-NRLF 


511 


THE 

RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION 
OF  ADOLESCENTS 


NORMAN  E.  RICHARDSON,  S.  T.  B.,  PH.  D. 

Director  of  the  Department  of  Religious  Education 
of  Boston  University 


Including  material  contained  in  a  pamphlet  entitled:  The 
Government  of  Adolescent  Young  People,  prepared  by 
William  Byron  Forbush  and  revised  by  Mary  E.  Moxcey, 
the  copyrights  of  this  and  other  pamphlets  published  by 
the  American  Institute  of  Child  Life  of  Philadelphia  having 
been  purchased  for  the  Department  of  Religious  Education 
of  Boston  University. 


THE  ABINGDON  PRESS 

NEW  YORK  CINCINNATI 


RJT 


COPYRIGHT  1913 

BY   THE 

AMERICAN  INSTITUTE  OF  CHILD  LIFE 

COPYRIGHT,  1918 

BY 
NORMAN  E.  RICHARDSON 


INTRODUCTION 

In  selecting  and  preparing  the  material  for  this 
little  volume,  the  author  has  intentionally  avoided 
the  exclusively  academic  and  scholastic  point  of 
view.  The  needs  of  parents,  teachers  and  other 
adult  leaders,  who  are  facing  practical  problems, 
have  been  kept  in  mind.  Indeed,  many  of  the  H 
paragraphs  were  written  for  the  express  purpose  of 
answering  questions  which  had  been  asked  by  per- 
sons who  were  facing  perplexing  situations  in  their 
own  homes  or  schools. 

During  the  past  three  years,  the  author  has 
delivered  several  short  courses  of  lectures  in  con- 
munity  schools  of  religious  education  and  in  sum- 
mer schools  on  such  subjects  as :  The  Psychology 
of  Adolescent  Boyhood,  The  Religious  Nurture  of 
Adolescent  Young  People,  The  Psychology  of 
Religion,  and  Principles  and  Methods  of  Recrea- 
tional Leadership.  As  collateral  reading  in  these 
courses,  one  monograph  of  a  series  of  pamphlets 
formerly  published  by  the  American  Institute  of 
Child  Life  of  Philadelphia :  The  Government  of 
Adolescent  Young  People,  prepared  by  William  ^ 
Byron  Forbush,  was  used.  The  demand  for  it 
soon  exhausted  the  third  edition. 

Numerous  requests  have  been  received  for  these 
lectures,  made  available  in  book  form.     During 


iv  INTRODUCTION 

the  Summer  School  of  the  Canadian  Young 
Men's  Christian  Associations  held  at  Lake 
Couchiching  in  1918,  particularly,  the  Boys' 
Work  Committee  of  the  National  Council  to- 
gether with  representatives  of  several  evangelical 
denominations  strongly  urged  the  immediate 
preparation  of  such  a  volume.  It  was  pointed 
out  that  the  material  should  be  made  available 
for  the  training  of  teachers  and  other  workers  in 
tjie  Intermediate,  Senior  and  Young  Peoples' 
Departments  of  the  church  school  as  well  as  for 
boy  workers  in  the  Canadian  Y.  M.  C.  A. 

The  following  chapters  are  the  result  of  an 
effort  to  do  three  things.  First,  to  gather  to- 
gether material  for  an  introductory  study  of 
adolescence  that  will  be  helpful  to  teachers  in 
church  and  public  schools,  leaders  of  recreational 
groups,  parents  and  social  workers.  Second,  to 
organize  this  material  so  that  it  will  prove  to  be 
a  serviceable  text-book  to  be  used  in  third  year 
specialization  teacher-training  classes  in  commu- 
nity schools  of  religious  education  and  in  other 
study  groups.  Third,  to  inspire  students  and 
others  with  the  conviction  that  they  can  per- 
form a  notable  service  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  by 
guiding  young  people  through  the  tumultuous 
years  of  adolescence. 

In  several  instances  the  contents  of  the  pam- 


INTRODUCTION  v 

phlet:  The  Government  of  Adolescent  Young 
People,  after  having  been  revised  and  enlarged 
by  Mary  E.  Moxcey  in  the  interest  of  adolescent 
girlhood,  have  been  reorganized  and  included  in 
the  following  chapters.  The  copyrights  of  the 
series  of  pamphlets  to  which  it  belonged  were 
purchased  for  the  Department  of  Religious  Edu- 
cation of  Boston  University  in  the  year  1917. 

The  writer  wishes  to  express  his  deep  conviction 
that  a  teacher  or  other  adult  leader  who  is  respon- 
sible for  the  training  of  youth  in  any  one  of  the 
three  eras  of  adolescent  unfolding  should  not  con- 
fine  his  study  to  that  particular  era  alone.  In 
order,  to  understand  the  majority  of  middle  ado- 
lescent young  people,  it  is  absolutely  necessary  to 
have  intelligent  insight  into  the  experiences  and 
characteristics  of  normal  later  adolescence. 
Multitudes  of  boys  and  girls  are  socially  and  in- 
tellectually so  precocious  that  at  thirteen  years  of 
age,  their  interests  are  those  that  belong  naturally, 
to  middle  adolescence.  The  spiritual  life  is  un- 
usually fluid  during  adolescent  years.  Charts 
and  classifications  are  ruthlessly  violated.  A 
brief  survey  of  the  entire  period  is  necessary  before 
one  is  prepared  to  face  the  practical  problems  of 
any  one  era  within  the  period. 

The  worker  with  adolescent  young  people 
should  frequently  remind  himself  of  the  fact  that 


vi  INTRODUCTION 

his  task  is  not  to  hurry  them  along  as  rapidly  as 
possible  toward  maturity.  Our  whole  nation  is 
suffering  from  the  results  of  the  over-stimulation 
of  its  youth.  A  few  may  need  to  be  stimulated. 
Multitudes  need  influences  that  will  retard  their 
unfolding.  Help  the  child  to  maintain  a  normal 
rate  of  development.  He  needs,  most  of  all,  to 
live  a  whole  life  at  each  stage  of  his  advancement. 
It  is  first  the  blade,  then  the  ear,  and  finally  the 
full  corn  in  the  ear.  Too  many  boys  and  girls  are 
growing  ears  when  they  should  be  perfecting  blades. 

In  order  to  recognize  these  instances  of  precocity 
and  of  belated  development,  the  adult  leader  or 
teacher  must  have  intelligent  familiarity  with  the 
normal  experiences  of  the  periods  preceding  and 
following  the  one  to  which  his  pupils  naturally  be- 
long. The  first  step  in  the  task  of  self -preparation 
to  render  efficient  service  for  early,  middle,  or 
later  adolescents  is  the  careful  study  of  the  entire 
period  of  adolescence. 

The  author  wishes  to  express  his  gratitude  for 
the  helpful  suggestions  and  criticisms  of  the  Rev. 
C.  A.  Myers,  Rev.  Frank  H.  Langford,  Miss  Mary 
E.  Moxcey,  Rev.  James  V.  Thompson  and  Dr. 
Sidney  A.  Weston. 

NORMAN  E.  RICHARDSON. 

Boston  University, 
October  25,  1918. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Chapter  I.     The  Nature  and  Meaning  of  Ado- 
lescence        1 

The  period  of  adolescence.  Spiritual  versus  me- 
chanical methods  of  study.  Adolescence  and  self- 
hood. The  three  epochs  of  development,  early, 
middle,  and  later  adolescence.  Transition  from 
childhood  to  youth;  from  youth  to  maturity.  The 
fourfold  challenge  of  adolescence.  Some  practical 
suggestions.  Questions  for  study. 

Chapter  II.     Physical  Development 18 

The  law  of  rhythm.  Sex  development.  Need  of 
objective  interests  and  activities.  Skill.  Health 
habits.  Physical  growth  during  early  adolescence. 
Development  during  middle  adolescence.  The  later 
adolescent  body.  Questions  for  study. 

Chapter  III.     Mental  Development 34 

The  parting  of  the  ways,  mental  pitfalls  of  ado- 
lescence. How  to  control  mental  development. 
Keep  open  the  channels  of  expression.  Guard 
against  over-stimulation.  Mental  benefits  of  a  re- 
ligious faith.  Emotional  changes.  A  multitude  of 
interests.  Management  of  the  emotions.  The  cul- 
ture of  the  will.  Questions. 

Chapter  IV.     Social  Development 56 

Childhood's  Treasure  House.  Self-corrective  ex- 
periences. Social  development  within  the  family. 


i  CONTENTS 

Social  development  through  school  experiences.  The 
play  group.  Church  school  loyalty.  Community 
loyalty.  Social  instincts.  The  friendship  instinct. 
Moral  awakening.  Social  management,  "  First 
loves,"  Co-operation.  Questions. 

Chapter  V.    Religion  as  a  Mode  of  Control  in 

Adolescent  Conduct 76 

Control  from  without  and  from  within.  What 
is  adolescent  religion?  Early  adolescent  religion. 
Middle  adolescent  religion.  Its  social  aspects. 
Later  adolescent  religion.  The  fusing  of  patriotism 
and  religion.  Rationalizing  one's  religion.  Ques- 
tions. 

Chapter  VI.     Ruling  Motives 94 

Pride.  The  heartening  influence  of  appreciation. 
Dissatisfaction  with  the  commonplace.  Hero-wor- 
ship. The  girl's  hero  versus  the  boy's  hero.  Ferti- 
lizing the  imagination.  Responsibility.  A  weekly 
allowance.  The  parent's  gradual  surrender  of  re- 
sponsibility. The  right  to  a  wailing-post.  Group 
loyalty.  Chivalry.  A  life  purpose.  Combination 
of  motives.  Questions. 

Chapter  VII.     The  Adolescent  Prodigal 114 

The  prodigal.  Juvenile  delinquency.  Types  of 
offences.  The  age  of  delinquents.  Their  family  and 
home  conditions.  School  records  of  delinquents. 
Shall  they  be  put  to  work?  Shall  we  send  him  away 
to  school?  Shall  we  let  him  wander?  Influences 
that  will  bring  him  home.  Encouraging  factors. 
Some  practical  suggestions.  Results  to  be  hoped  for. 
Questions. 


CONTENTS  ix 

Chapter  VIII.     Character  Through  Play  In- 
terests and  Activities ISO 

The  educative  value  of  play.  Its  positive  nature. 
The  stupidity  of  attempted  guidance  through  repres- 
sion. Group  loyalty  and  team  play.  Social  devel- 
opment through  play.  Nature  of  adolescent  play. 
The  ideal  play  program  and  organization  for  early 
adolescents.  For  middle  adolescents.  Play  and 
recreation  for  later  adolescent  young  people.  Prac- 
tical suggestions.  Questions. 

Chapter  IX.    Principles  of  Religious  Educa- 
tion for  Early  Adolescence 149 

The  law  of  the  expanding  life.  The  law  of  transi- 
tion. The  law  of  responsibility  for  leisure-time  ac- 
tivities. The  law  of  the  reading  craze.  The  law  of 
individual  and  group  service.  The  law  of  the  moral 
imagination.  The  law  of  conscience.  The  law  of 
repentance  and  confession.  The  law  of  church 
membership.  The  law  of  the  fuller  life.  Ques- 
tions. 

Chapter  X.     Principles  of  Religious  Education 
for  Middle  Adolescence 1 64 

The  law  of  the  integrating  personality.  The  law  of 
a  single  loyalty.  The  law  of  conversion.  The  law 
of  adolescent  mysticism.  The  law  of  ardent,  organ- 
ized endeavor.  The  law  of  friendship  and  romance. 
The  law  of  culture  and  restraint.  The  law  of  voca- 
tional specialization.  The  law  of  apprenticeship  in 
leadership.  The  law  of  the  sustained  spiritual  life. 
Questions. 


x  CONTENTS 

Chapter  XL    Principles  of  Religious  Educa- 
tion/or Later  Adolescence 178 

The  law  of  a  completed  adolescence.  The  law  of 
differentiation.  The  law  of  worthy  motives  in  life's 
great  decisions.  The  law  of  a  changed  environment. 
The  law  of  institutional  loyalty.  The  law  of  leader- 
ship. The  law  of  heroic  service.  The  law  of  special- 
ized training.  The  law  of  rational  supremacy.  The 
law  of  a  religious  creed.  Questions. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  NATURE  AND  MEANING  OF  ADO- 
LESCENCE 

Adolescence  is  that  part  of  life  which  lies  be- 
tween childhood  and  adulthood.  The  first  two 
dozen  years  of  an  individual's  life  are  about  equally 
divided  between  childhood  and  youth.  Under 
most  favorable  conditions,  the  period  of  adoles- 
cence continues  from  the  twelfth  to  the  twenty- 
fourth  years.  It  includes  the  very  heart  of  life. 
Childhood  looks  forward  to  it  and  prepares  for  it. 
From  it  adulthood  takes  many  of  its  permanent 
and  important  characteristics.  This  is  the  time 
when  "a  little  good  will  go  farther  for  good  and  a 
little  evil  for  evil,  than  any  other  time  in  life." 

THE  SPIRITUAL  VERSUS  THE  MECHANICAL  POINT 
OF  VIEW 

In  dealing  with  actual  young  people,  the  teacher 
or  leader  should  guard  against  the  error  of  attrib- 
uting to  them,  in  a  wholesale  or  arbitrary  way, 
the  characteristics  which  their  years  suggest. 
The  rate  of  development  differs  with  different 
individuals.  Indeed,  within  the  same  individual, 
belated  physical  growth  may  be  associated  with1'" 
mental  precocity.  Life  is  not  wooden  or  mechan- 


2  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ical.  It  cannot  be  reduced  to 'charts,  tables,  or 
fixed  schedules.  Each  youth  lives  his  own  life, 
in  his  own  way.  He  may  or  may  not  conform  to 
what  is  considered  normal  or  standard.  His  self- 
realization,  not  his  conformity  to  a  common  stand- 
ard or  a  chart,  is  the  aim  of  education. 

In  the  study  of  adolescence,  the  first  requisite 
is  the  ability  to  think  in  these  more  spiritual,  fluid 
terms.  In  order  to  put  through  successfully  any 
system  of  training  or  program  of  instruction,  it  is 
necessary  to  know  something  besides  the  contents 
of  the  teacher's  or  leader's  manual.  Merely  to 
spray  young  people  with  ideas  regardless  of  what 
is  going  on  in  their  minds  or  merely  to  enforce  a 
system  of  training,  no  matter  what  happens  to 
those  who  are  supposed  to  be  trained  thereby,  is 
to  use  the  method  of  ignorance  or  stupidity. 

It  is  one  thing  to  teach  a  Bible  lesson,  but  an- 
other thing  to  teach  a  boy.  To  operate  a  certain 
system  of  training  may  or  may  not  result  in  the 
training  of  a  particular  girl.  An  intelligent  ap- 
preciation of  growing,  expanding,  developing 
youth  should  go  hand  in  hand  with  a  thorough 
grasp  of  the  lesson  or  the  program.  The  fact 
that  a  teacher  has  reduced  to  oral  English  all  of 
the  ideas  contained  in  a  given  lesson  is  not  a  guar- 
antee that  those  ideas  will  become  controlling 
factors  in  the  pupil's  conduct. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  3 

A  careful  study  of  adolescence  from  this  spirit- 
ual point  of  view  reveals  the  field  wherein  failures 
and  successes  actually  take  place.  It  helps  the 
adult  leader  or  teacher  to  appreciate  the  aim  of  a 
given  system  of  training  or  of  a  series  of  lessons. 
It  inspires  confidence,  stimulates  originality,  and 
makes  independent  action  possible.  It  breaks  the 
shackles  of  those  who  are  slaves  to  the  leader's 
manual.  The  one  who  understands  life,  as  well  as 
lessons,  is  more  apt  to  proceed  with  unhesitating 
insight.  He  can  make  adaptations  where  they 
should  be  made.  His  work  brings  greater  joy. 
He  is  able  to  measure  what  progress  is  being  made. 
He  catches  the  spirit  of  the  scientist  or  adventurer. 
To  one  who  appreciates  it,  adolescence  is  a  great  - 
challenge.  It  is  so  plastic,  so  spiritual,  so  sacred 
that  it  is  the  very  stuff,  the  raw  material  out  of 
which  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  is  made. 

ADOLESCENCE  AND  SELFHOOD 

Adolescence  is  the  period  when  selfhood  unfolds. 
Youth  is  self-conscious.  Physical  changes,  height- 
ened power  of  sense  perception,  social  sensitive- 
ness, and  rational  activity  all  tend  to  stimulate 
self-awareness.  Slowly  through  these  years  indi- 
viduality takes  on  definiteness  of  form  and  char- 
acter. Youth  faces  the  inevitable  responsibili-f 
ties  of  self-control  and  self-direction,  is  forced  to 


4  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

take  a  lively  interest  in  the  management  of  his 
own  conduct. 

Young  people  live  their  own  lives.  Outside 
interference  is  apt  to  be  resented  if  it  ignores  this 
newly  discovered  and  highly  prized  selfhood. 
The  right  to  originate  plans  independently  of 
others  is  cherished.  To  accept  or  to  reject  the 
judgment  of  parents  and  teachers  is  looked  upon 
as  youth's  high  privilege.  Practical  questions  of 
membership  in  social  groups,  of  vocation,  of 
friendship,  of  public  opinion,  of  individual  beliefs, 
of  leadership,  of  personal  appearance,  of  sex,  of 
ambition,  now  press  for  answers.  All  these 
emphasize  self.  For  light  and  guidance,  youth 
looks  within  to  his  own  conscience  as  well  as  with- 
out to  some  external  voice  of  authority.  Unlike 
the  dependent  and  receptive  child,  youth  is  inde- 
pendent and  creative.  His  face  is  set  toward  his 
own  alluring  future. 

EARLY,   MIDDLE  AND  LATER  ADOLESCENCE 

There  are  three  distinct  periods  or  epochs  of 
development  within  this  central  span  of  life. 
They  are  known  as  early,  middle  and  later  adoles- 
cence. Under  normal  conditions,  these  periods 
include  the  years  twelve  to  fourteen,  fifteen  to 
seventeen  and  eighteen  to  twenty-four,  respec- 
tively. Unfortunately,  the  rate  and  the  order  of  un- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  5 

folding  represented  in  this  grouping  of  years  is 
usually  interfered  with  by  conditions  which  are 
beyond  the  control  of  the  youth  himself.  Years 
are  not  the  true  measure  of  life.  Poverty,  mis- 
fortune or  a  great  calamity,  such  as  war,  is  apt  to 
abbreviate,  otherwise  modify,  or  even  short-cir- 
cuit entirely  any  one  of  these  eras  of  development. 
Boys  and  girls  generally  grow  old  before  their 
time.  The  majority  of  young  people  do  not  have 
a  completed  adolescence.  Unfortunately,  the  ma- 
turing process  which. should  proceed  slowly  and 
gradually  during  these  years,  is  usually  brought 
to  an  abrupt  close.  Leaders  of  middle  adoles- 
cent boys  are  apt  to  have  later  adolescent  prob- 
lems to  deal  with.  Leaders  of  middle  adolescents 
should  understand  both  early  and  later  adoles- 
cence. 

These  three  periods  of  development  might  be 
likened  to  the  building  of  a  ship.  In  the  first 
stage,  the  parts  are  assembled  and  bound  together 
in  various  ways.  Then  comes  the  trial  trip  when 
these  parts  are  "worked  in"  and  the  mechanical 
adjustments  necessary  to  avoid  friction  and  to 
prevent  permanent  weakness  are  made.  Finally 
comes  the  maiden  voyage  with  its  proud  record 
and  prophecy  of  the  future.  The  distinctive 
marks  of  any  particular  ship  cannot  be  known 
until  she  has  tried  herself  out. 


6  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

So  it  is  with  adolescence.  First,  the  parts  are 
assembled  in  rather  irregular  and  hasty  manner, 
then  the  critical  period  of  integration  takes  place 
and  this  is  followed  by  the  measuring  of  one's 
strength  and  skill  against  the  real  economic  and 
social  opportunities  of  life.  Thus,  the  boy  be- 
comes a  man  and  the  girl,  a  woman. 

During  early  adolescence  physical  changes  are 
most  conspicuous.  Middle  adolescence  is  domi- 
nantly  social.  Later  adolescence  finds  the  rational 
faculties  supreme.  Social  development  proceeds 
throughout  the  three  periods.  Mental  develop- 
ment culminates  respectively  in  impulses,  in  sen- 
timents, and  in  opinions.  The  three  modes  of 
control  are  first,  public  or  gang  opinion;  second, 
the  influence  of  friends;  and  third,  the  reasoned 
judgments  of  real  leaders.  Loyalty,  during  the 
years  twelve,  thirteen  and  fourteen,  is  centered 
upon  home,  school  and  Church.  The  years  fif- 
teen, sixteen  and  seventeen  find  these  loyalties 
increasing  in  strength  and  to  them  is  added  loy- 
alty to  the  community.  During  the  immediately 
following  years  may  come  loyalty  to  a  new  home 
together  with  an  increasingly  intelligent  devotion 
to  religious,  civic  and  possibly  educational  insti- 
tutions. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  7 

THE  TRANSITION  FROM  CHILDHOOD  TO  YOUTH 

Writing  of  the  suddenness  with  which  the  tran- 
sition is  made  from  childhood  to  youth,  Margaret 
Slattery  describes  a  scene  wnich  took  place  in  a 
school  where  she  was  teaching: 

"She  was  a  beautiful,  well-developed  girl  of 
thirteen.  Her  bright,  eager  face  with  its  changing 
expression,  was  a  fascination  at  all  times.  It 
seemed  unusually  earnest  and  serious  that  par- 
ticular morning  as  she  stood  waiting  the  opportun- 
ity to  speak  to  me.  She  had  asked  to  wait  until 
the  others  had  gone,  and  her  manner  as  she  hesi- 
tated even  then  to  speak  made  me  ask,  'Are  you 
in  trouble,  Edith?' 

."'No,  not  exactly  trouble — I  don't  know 
whether  we  ought  to  ask  you,  but  all  of  us  girls 
think — well,  we  wish  we  could  have  a  mirror  in 
the  lockerroom.  Couldn't  we?  It's  dreadful  to 
go  into  school  without  knowing  how  your  hair 
looks  or  anything. ' 

"I  couldn't  help  laughing.  Her  manner  was 
so  tragic  that  the  mirror  seemed  the  most  impor- 
tant thing  in  the  educational  system  just  then.  I 
said  I  would  see  what  could  be  done  about  it,  and 
felt  sure  that  what  'all  the  girls'  wanted  could  be 
supplied.  She  thanked  me  heartily  and  when  she 
entered  her  own  room,  nodded  her  head  in  answer 
to  inquiring  glances  from  the  other  girls. 


8  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

"As  I  made  a  note  of  the  request,  I  remembered 
the  Edith  of  a  year  or  more  ago.  Edith,  whose 
mother  found  her  a  great  trial;  she  didn't  care 
how  she  looked !  It  was  true.  She  wore  her  hat 
hanging  down  over  her  black  braids,  held  on  by 
the  elastic  band  around  her  neck;  she  lost  her 
ribbons  continually,  and  never  seemed  to  miss 
them.  She  was  a  good  scholar,  wide-awake,  alert, 
always  ready  for  the  next  thing.  She  loved  to 
recite,  and  volunteered  information  generously. 
In  games,  she  was  the  leader,  and  on  the  play- 
ground always  unanimous  choice  for  the  coveted 
'it'  of  the  game.  She  was  never  in  the  least 
self-conscious,  and,  as  her  mother  had  said,  how 
she  looked  never  seemed  to  occur  to  her. 

"And  now,  she  came  asking  for  a  mirror.  Her 
hair  ribbons  are  always  present  and  her  hat  se- 
curely fastened  by  hat-pins  of  hammered  brass. 
She  spends  a  good  deal  of  time  in  school  'arrang- 
ing' her  hair.  Sometimes  spelling  suffers,  some- 
times algebra.  Before  standing  to  recite,  she 
carefully  arranges  her  belt.  Contrary  to  her 
previous  custom,  she  rarely  volunteers,  although 
her  scholarship  is  very  good.  If  unable  to  give 
the  correct  answer,  or  when  obliged  to  face  the 
school,  she  blushes  painfully.  One  day  recently, 
when  the  class  were  reading  'As  You  Like  It,'  she 
sat  with  a  dreamy  look  upon  her  sweet  face,  far, 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  9 

far  away  from  the  eighth-grade  class-room;  could 
not  find  her  place  when  called  upon  to  read,  and 
although  confused  and  ashamed,  lost  it  again 
within  ten  minutes."  (Margaret  Slattery,  "The 
Girl  in  Her  Teens,"  ages  1,  2,  3.) 

The  Mother  of  Phillips  Brooks,  out  of  her  own 
deep  experience,  once  wrote: 

"There  is  an  age  when  it  is  not  well  to  follow  or 
question  your  boy  too  closely.  Up  to  that  time, 
you  may  carefully  instruct  and  direct  him,  you  are 
his  best  friend;  he  is  never  happy  unless  the  story 
of  the  day  has  been  told;  you  must  hear  about  his 
friends,  his  school;  all  that  interests  him  must  be 
your  interest.  Suddenly  there,  confidences  cease; 
the  affectionate  son  becomes  reserved  and  silent; 
he  seeks  the  intimate  friendship  of  other  lads ;  he 
goes  out;  he  is  averse  to  telling  where  he  is  going 
or  how  long  he  will  be  gone;  he  comes  and  goes 
silently  to  his  roorn. 

"All  this  is  a  startling  change  to  the  mother, 
but  it  is  also  her  opportunity  to  practice  wisdom 
by  loving  and  praying  for  and  absolutely  trusting 
her  son.  The  faithful  instruction  and  careful 
training  during  her  early  years,  the  son  cannot 
forget;  that  is  impossible.  Therefore,  trust  not 
only  your  Heavenly  Father,  but  your  son.  The 
period  of  which  I  speak  appears  to  me  to  be  one 
in  which  the  boy  dies  and  the  man  is  born;  his 


10  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

individuality  rises  up  before  him  and  he  is  dazed 
and  almost  overwhelmed  by  his  first  consciousness 
of  himself.  I  have  always  believed  that  it  was 
then  that  the  Creator  was  speaking  with  my  sons, 
and  that  it  was  good  for  their  souls  to  be  left  alone 
with  Him  while  I,  their  mother,  stood  trembling, 
praying  and  waiting,  knowing  that  when  the  man 
was  developed  from  the  boy,  I  should  have  my 
sons  again  and  there  would  be  a  deeper  sympathy 
tjian  ever  between  us." 

The  transition  from  later  adolescence  to  adult- 
hood is  greatly  influenced  by  environment.  The 
necessity  of  going  to  work,  early  marriage,  or  loss 
of  parents,  may  plunge  youth  suddenly  into  the 
burden  bearing  of  maturity.  This  fact  is  one  of 
the  tragedies  of  our  civilization.  Young  people 
should  take  more  time  to  mature  mentally,  socially 
and  physically.  The  period  of  plasticity  should 
be  prolonged  as  far  as  possible.  It  takes  time 
to  find  one's  place  in  the  social  and  economic 
world  just  as  it  takes  time  to  discover  oneself. 
In  an  age  of  high  specialization,  there  is  greater 
need  of  general  preparation.  Many  a  man  has 
spent  years  regretting  the  fact  that  he  might  have 
had  a  better  education  or  a  broader  outlook  upon 
life.  But  he  was  in  too  great  a  hurry  to  take 
what  he  thought  then  was  to  be  his  place  in  the 
world. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  11 

PRESIDENT  BUTLER'S  SUMMARY 

The  most  outstanding  characteristics  of  the  first 
and  second  periods  of  adolescent  life  are  thus 
summed  up  by  Nicholas  Murray  Butler: 

"The  marked  characteristics  of  the  pupil  of 
secondary-school  age  are  due  to  the  fact  that,  as 
Rousseau  puts  it,  we  are  born  twice;  the  first  time 
into  existence,  the  second  time  into  life;  the  first 
time  as  a  member  of  the  race,  the  second  time  as 
a  member  of  the  sex — in  other  words,  they  are  due 
to  the  phenomena  of  adolescence.  The  physical 
and  mental  effects  of  this  epoch  in  human  life 
begin  earlier  and  last  longer  than  is  sometimes 
supposed.  They  dominate  the  entire  secondary- 
school  period.  Rapid  growth  and  increase  of 
nervous  mental  energy  mark  these  years.  Emo- 
tions, vague  and  disordered,  displace  the  placidity 
of  earlier  likes.  Ambitions,  yearnings,  desires 
are  formulated  crudely  and  for  the  first  time. 
Introspection  begins  and  a  morbid  self -conscious- 
ness is  not  infrequent.  The  future,  hitherto  al- 
most unthought  of,  becomes  of  great  interest  and 
importance, ,  and  overshadows  the  present.  Ab- 
normally intense  religious  experiences  and  reflec- 
tions are  common.  The  old  and  familiar  tasks, 
occupations  and  games  no  longer  suffice;  the  soul 
seems  to  overflow,  as  it  were,  and  demands  new 
and  more  difficult  problems  to  occupy  it  and  to 


12  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

absorb  its  activities.  The  higher  thought  proc- 
esses until  now,  latent,  exhibit  themselves  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  and  more  formal  and  elaborate 
chains  of  inference  supersede  the  reasoning  from 
one  particular  instance  to  another  that  is  so  char- 
acteristic of  the  little  child. "  (Nicholas  M.  But- 
ler, "The  Meaning  of  Education,"  page  209-210.) 

THE  FOUR-FOLD   CHALLENGE  OF  ADOLESCENCE 

Adolescence  presents  a  four-fold  challenge.  It 
is  said  of  Jesus  that :  "  He  advanced  in  wisdom  and 
stature  and  in  favor  with  God  and  men."  His 
education  proceeded  along  four  lines  all  combining 
to  produce  a  symmetrical  character. 

Mental  powers  unfold  rapidly  during  these 
years.  Imagination,  memory,  attention,  skill, 
reason  respond  readily  to  the  influences  of  educa- 
tion. 

Physically,  this  is  a  critical  era  of  development. 
Permanent  health  habits  are  achieved  or  the  op- 
portunity of  realizing  permanent  health  is  lost. 
Team  or  group  play  is  likewise  an  achievement 
that  is  now  possible.  Sex  organs  mature  and  sex 
differences  are  established. 

Religious  changes  are  now  made  with  relative 
ease  and  permanency.  Religion  is  a  matter  of 
spontaneous  interest.  Some  personal  attitude 
toward  God  and  the  Church  will  be  assumed. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  13 

Religious  beliefs  and  sentiments  are  natural  and 
inevitable.  Careless  indifference  and  studied 
hostility  or  intimate  companionship  and  trustful 
obedience  may  become  a  permanent  part  of  life. 
The  religious  preferences  that  are  built  up  during 
childhood  as  a  result  of  the  influences  of  others 
are  either  ratified  and  personally  appropriated  or 
rejected  as  unworthy.  The  power  to  discover  for 
oneself  the  spiritual  messages  of  the  Bible  and  the 
soul-renewing  value  of  prayer  and  worship  is  real- 
ized during  adolescence.  Fundamental  mistakes 
of  loyalty  can  be  corrected,  through  conversion, 
without  the  losses  which  similar  experiences  in 
later  years  entail.  A  philosophy  of  life  which 
puts  Jesus  at  the  center  can  be  formed  with  as  < 
great  clearness  and  sincerity  as  one  that  exalts 
self  to  the  place  of  supreme  regard.  Adoles- 
cence offers  a  supreme  challenge  to  the  religious 
educator. 

From  the  standpoint  of  moral  and  social  educa-  / 
tion,  adolescence  is  important  because  conscience,  / 
which  has  been  forming  gradually  during  child- 
hood, now  begins  to  function;  the  opinions  of 
one's  peers  are  taken  with  increasing  seriousness; 
the  responsibility  of  independent  moral  self -direc- 
tion is  taken  up;  personal  ideals  become  more  and 
more  vivid;  there  is  particular  susceptibility  to 
the  influence  of  chums,  and  heroes,  the  adoree  and 


14  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  friend.  Social  relationships  are  now  of  con- 
scious, vital  concern.  How  to  act  with  social  ease 
and  strength  is  the  inescapable  problem  of  adoles- 
cence. The  approval  or  disapproval  of  others  is 
sure  to  be  taken  to  heart.  One's  own  ways  of 
acting  are  compared  with  those  of  others  who  are 
near  at  hand.  It  is  painfully  annoying  to  be  odd. 
It  is  highly  satisfying  to  be  popular.  Many  psy- 
chological forces  are  at  work  that  make  youth 
morally  plastic.  The  formation  of  character  is 
the  inevitable  result  of  adolescent  experience. 
The  bases  of  institutional  loyalties  are  now  laid. 

SOME  PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

The  physical  changes,  the  intellectual  outreach- 
ing,  the  social  stress,  and  the  religious  crises,  alto- 
gether cause  this  to  be  a'  most  unstable,  misunder- 
stood and  yet  hopeful  period.  The  youth  now 
needs  the  sympathy,  understanding  and  respect 
of  adults  as  never  before.  The  Psalmist  said  even 
of  God:  "Thy  gentleness  hath  made  me  great." 
The  quiet,  comparatively  stolid  years  of  child- 
hood are  over  and  the  time  for  corporal  punish- 
ment, scolding  and  nagging  is  past.  The  adoles- 
cent is  not  only  ripening  but  hardening  into  the 
character  which  is  to  be  his  for  life.  The  time  has 
come  to  make  the  transition  from  management 
[  by  an  adult  to  that  of  self-management. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  15 

•  •, 
In  this  period  when  the  youth  is  never  calm,  | 

the  one  who  is  leading  him  must  always  be  calm.  ! 
We  can  never  afford  to  be  disquieted  when  he  is. 
Especially  must  we  keep  hopeful  when  he  is  in 
despair.  At  this  age,  when  we  are  perpetually 
being  annoyed  by  the  superlatives,  the  shallow- 
ness,  the  moods,  the  unrestraint  and  the  secretive- 
ness  of  youth,  we  must  try,  as  Puffer  reminds  us, 
not  only  to  remember  how  we  ourselves  once 
acted,  but  how  we  once  felt.  It  seems  incredible, 
but  it  is  so,  that  we  once  had  the  same  impulses  J 
If  we  have  forgotten,  our  parents  haven't.  — r>( 
Now  when,  as  LeBaron  Briggs  wittily  says, 
"The  adolescent  wants  to  behave  like  a  child  and 
.  be  treated  like  a  gentleman,"  we  have  to  be  prompt 
with  our  forgiveness  of  the  sudden  fickle  tendencies 
for  if  we  do  not  forgive  him  when  he  is  sorry,  then 
he  will  soon  not  be  sorry  and  will  not  care  to  be 
forgiven.  Next  to  trust  in  God,  perhaps  the 
chief  virtue  called  for  in  parents  and  teachers  and 
leaders,  is  a  sense  of  humor.  Next  in  commonness 
to  the  mistake  of  supposing  that  the  members  of 
our  particular  group  or  class  are  exceptionally 
brilliant  is  that  of  supposing  that  they  are  excep- 
tionally difficult.  The  chances  are  that  they  are 
neither.  The  fact  is  that  all  children  of  parts 
during  this  period  are  at  times  anti-domestic, 
"Agin'  the  Government,"  forgetful  of  their  duty 


16  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

to  their  parents,  unappreciative  of  teachers,  and 
sometimes  apparently  dull  in  affection. 

It  is  also  the  time  for  renewed  hopefulness. 
They  never  were  as  near  the  water-shed  that  leads 
over  to  manliness  and  womanliness  as  now.  They 
are  also  just  about  to  become  most  enjoyable,  for 
the  first  time  in  their  lives  becoming  capable  of 
being  comrades  on  a  level  with  their  parents, 
teachers  and  leaders.  The  child  is  too  busy  dis- 
covering himself  to  appreciate  the  sacrifices  that 
others  are  making  in  his  behalf,  but  youth  gradu- 
ally becomes  appreciative  and  companionable. 
If  treated  with  the  respect  which  is  his  due,  he 
enters  readily  into  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  his 
leaders. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  CLASS  STUDY 

1.  What  portion  of  life  is  included  in  the  period 
of  adolescence? 

2.  What  aie  the  chief  general  characteristics  of 
this  period? 

3.  Of  what  value  is  it  to  study  the  mental, 
social  and  religious  aspects  of  adolescence? 

4.  Into    what    three    epochs    is    adolescence 
divided? 

5.  Describe  the  transition  from  childhood  to 
youth. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  17 

6.  Why  should  the  period  of  adolescence  be 
prolonged  as  far  as  possible? 

7.  What  harm  would  come  to  a  young  man's 
character  if  he  were  compelled  to  live  on  a  lonely 
farm,  in  social  isolation  during  the  years  twelve  to 
twenty? 

8.  How  would  a  similar  deprivation  affect  aj 
girl? 

9.  What  is  the  four-fold  challenge  of  adoles- 
cence? 

10.  Why  is  adolescence  particularly  important 
from  the  standpoint  of  moral  and  religious  educa- 
tion? 

11.  Why  are  young  people  of  this  age  difficult 
to  manage? 


CHAPTER  II 
PHYSICAL  DEVELOPMENT 

THE  LAW  OF  RHYTHM 

Within  the  entire  span  of  adolescence  there  are 
three  distinct  types  of  physical  growth.  Follow- 
ing the  period  of  later  childhood,  which  is  a  time 
of  relatively  slow  development,  there  are  three  or 
four  years  of  very  rapid  but  uneven  growth. 
When  a  boy  begins  to  "shoot  up,"  he  shows  the 
unmistakable  signs  of  entering  physical  adoles- 
cence. The  annual  rate  of  increase  in  height 
usually  is  greatest  during  the  fourteenth  to  the 
sixteenth  years. 

This  period  of  accelerated  growth  is  followed  by 
one  in  which  the  parts  that  have  increased  in  size 
are  adjusted  to  each  other.  The  rate  of  develop- 
ment is  now  slower  and  the  unity  or  integrity  of 
the  body  is  being  established. 

Then  comes  the  later  period  of  final  maturation 
and  "baptism  of  power."  All  the  different  parts 
have  reached  their  mature  size;  they  have  been 
"worked  in"  so  that  they  are  adjusted  to  each 
other,  and  now  comes  the  "final  invoice  of  energy." 

Physical  growth  comes  on  in  waves.  It  is 
characterized  by  seasons  of  pause,  when  one 
18 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  19 

feels  a  sense  of  power,  alternating  with  others 
of  acceleration  marked  by  lassitude,  often  mis- 
named "laziness."  Growth,  therefore,  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  law  of  rhythm.  During  the 
period  when  pure  growth  or  increase  in  mere 
bulk  or  size  is  rapid,  development  or  organiza- 
tion is  relatively  slow  and  when  development, 
particularly,  is  taking  place,  the  rate  of  increase 
in  size  is  retarded.  Later  childhood  and  middle 
adolescence  are  periods  of  rapid  development  but 
relatively  slow  growth.  Early  adolescence  is  a 
time  of  very  rapid  growth  as  later  adolescence 
is  the  period  of  rapidly  expanding  energy  or 
capacity  for  exertion.  When  energy  is  no  longer 
neeSed  for  growth,  it  tends  to  go  out  into  work 
and  play. 

At  twelve  years  of  age,  the  normal  boy  weighs 
about  seventy-seven  pounds;  at  fifteen,  one  hun- 
dred and  seven.  During  this  period  and  the  first 
half  of  the  next,  the  acceleration  of  growth  is 
seen  in  his  increased  height  as  during  the  years 
fifteen  to  seventeen  or  eighteen,  it  is  seen  in  a 
rapid  increase  in  weight.  This  latter  gain  is 
about  forty  per  cent.  The  girl's  acceleration  in 
weight  comes  one  year  earlier  than  in  the  boy.  At 
twelve,  a  girl  has  two-thirds  of  her  weight  at 
twenty  years.  At  fifteen,  nine-tenths.  A  boy's 
height  at  twelve  is  normally  fifty-five  inches;  at 


20  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

fifteen,  it  is  sixty- three  inches.  A  boy  gains 
eleven  per  cent  in  height  from  twelve  to  fourteen. 
At  twelve  he  has  four-fifths  of  his  adult  height;  at 
fifteen,  nine-tenths.  At  twelve  the  girl  is  one  inch 
taller  than  the  boy,  but  during  the  following  four 
years,  the  boy  will  overtake  her  in  height.  (Con- 
sult Tyler's  "Growth  and  Education.") 

SEX  DEVELOPMENT 

By  far  the  most  profound  physical  changes  are 
these  which  take  place  with  the  maturing  of  the 
sex  functions.  These  changes  are  not  confined  to 
the  rapid  growth  and  development  of  the  sex 
organs.  There  are  internal  secretions  from  newly 
matured  glands  that  cause  chemical  changes  to 
take  place  in  every  part  of  the  body.  Masculine 
and  feminine  qualities  are  imparted  to  muscles 
and  nervous  system.  In  addition  to  the  increased 
energy,  skill  and  strength,  power  to  resist  disease, 
and  a  quickening  or  sensitizing  of  all  the  organs  of 
sense  perception,  there  are  subtle  qualities  that 
distinguish  the  sexes,  giving  to  each  its  individual- 
ity^and  charm. 

/  With  boys,  there  is  a  kind  of  muscle-intoxica- 
tion that  demands  violent  forms  of  exercise. 
Girls,  instinctively  are  afraid  of  physical  exertion 
that  leads  to  the  point  of  complete  exhaustion. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  21 

They  are  more  apt  to  hoard  their  strength.     They 
are  less  aggressive  than  boys. 

Sex  development  is  due  to  the  rapid  multiplica- 
tion of  "reproduction  cells"  or  "germ  plasm" 
which  lie  dormant  in  the  body  until  one  or  two 
years  before  puberty,  is  reached.  This  sudden 
multiplication  takes  place  during  early  adolescence 
— the  time  of  rapid  physical  growth.  With  the 
arrival  of  puberty,  physical  middle  adolescence  is 
reached  and  the  sex  organs  function  naturally. 
In  all  of  these  changes,  girls  are  about  one  year  in 
advance  of  boys  of  the  same  age. 

It  is  the  duty  of  parents  to  explain  to  their 
adolescent  boys  and  girls  the  meaning  of  these 
changes  and  to  point  out  how  vitally  they  are 
related  to  the  fluctuations  of  feelings,  the  ebb  and 
.  flow  of  physical  vitality,  and  the  general  restless- 
ness so  characteristic  of  this  period.  It  is  of  great 
value,  mentally,  to  know  that  these  strange  feel- 
ings are  not  uncommon  or  unnatural  and  thatj 
despair  concerning  self  is  unwarranted. 

NEED  OF  OBJECTIVE  INTERESTS  AND  ACTIVITIES  \ 

At  this  time,  when  the  senses  are  more  keen 
than  ever  before  in  their  reaction  to  color,  sound 
and  taste,  when  the  love  of  beauty  in  nature  allies 
itself  to  the  love  of  human  beauty,  when  there  is 
a  mental  awakening  almost  every  day  to  some- 


22  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

thing  that  has  always  been  seen  or  known  but 
never  appreciated,  we  may  use  the  body  as  never 
before  to  help  the  soul  upon  its  lonely  way. 
"Much  despondency  and  sense  of  sin"  even,  as 
Irving  King  reminds  us,  "is  no  doubt  due  to  phys- 
ical causes."  And  just  here  his  advice  is  espe- 
cially good,  when  he  urges  that  we  cure  the  intro- 
spection that  is  due  to  the  new  sensitiveness  and 
consciousness  of  the  flesh  by  giving  the  youth 
surroundings  that  are  especially  cheerful  in  tone 
and  that  furnish  the  stimulus  to  abundant  and 
vigorous  physical  exercise.  It  is  as  true  of  girls  as 
of  boys  that  "He  should  have  his  attention  turned 
outwardly  as  much  as  possible,  cultivating  inter- 
ests in  active,  overt  enterprises  with  other  people 
and  avoiding  the  giving  of  attention  to  his  own 
physical  and  mental  states. " 
I  Here  is  where  athletics,  wisely  administered, 
tome  to  our  rescue.  The  enthusiasm  for  personal 
prowess  and  for  maintaining  the  glory  of  the 
school  becomes  a  passion  which,  while  not  worthy 
of  remaining  as  a  life-purpose,  nevertheless  often 
lifts  youth  above  gross  vices,  precludes  from  mor- 
bid day-dreaming  and  tides  him  over  to  more 
serious  interests.  Many  a  young  person  is  being 
kept  in  high  school  and  college  to-day  by  the 
r  desire  to  be  "on  the  team,"  while  unconsciously 
I  to  himself  he  is  ripening  more  serious  purposes. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  23 

The  heroic  not  only  in  relation  to  athletics  but  in 
relation  to  nature  is  helping  here. 

This  is  the  time  for  parents  and  leaders  to  en- 
courage in  girls  not  merely  ladylike  nature-study 
but  camping,  sailing,  tramping.  Now  young  per- 
sons respond  to  the  sturdy  zeal  of  old  Ulysses 

"That  ever  with  a  frolic  welcome  took 
The  thunder  and  the  sunshine,  and  opposed 
Free  hearts,  free  foreheads     .     .     . 
One  equal  temper  of  heroic  hearts, 
.     .     .     strong  in  will 
To  strive,  to  seek,  to  find,  and  not  to  yield." 

In  these  days  of  bodily  irritability,  while  he 
takes  the  most  careful  watch-care  concerning  his 
child's  bodily  development,  the  adult  leader  en- 
deavors to  overlook  minor  outbreaks  and  to  con- 
cede gracefully  as  many  of  the  smaller  issues  as  / 
possible.  Everything  that  annoys  us  is  not  of 
equal  significance,  and  the  wise  leader,  like  a 
strategist,  employs  his  heavy  artillery  only  in  an 
emergency.  In  order  to  keep  the  confidence  of 
young  people,  especially  of  girls,  the  mother  must 
be  flexible.  Mrs.  Frances  M.  Ford  wisely  says: 

"  She  must  give  way  in  some  of  the  little  things 
in  order  to  strengthen  her  position  in  the  greater 
matters  to  be  decided,  and  to  turn  the  argument 
around,  I  believe  that  if  she  shows  her  sympathy 


24  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

and  affection  and  understanding,  morning,  noon, 
and  night,  in  respect  to  these  little  things,  she  will 
find  herself  quite  able  to  cope  with  the  larger 
ones  and  she  will  come  out  ahead." 

The  one  who  has  the  immediate  charge  of  ado- 
lescent young  people  should  guard  against  the 
danger  of  their  over-drawing  their  bank  account 
of  physical  energy.  He  should  also  try  to  con- 
tinue a  somewhat  steady  regimen  of  food,  exercise, 
sleep,  for  these  unsteady  spirits  in  order  to  estab- 
lish a  good  constitution  and  save  them  from  be- 
coming physically  bankrupt. 

Now  is  just  the  time  when  fond  parents  dis- 
cover an  unsuspected  talent  for  music  o~  art  in 
their  daughters  and  insist  upon  adding  practice 
onto  the  already  overloaded  hours.  This,  together 
with  parties  and  the  theatre,  is  pretty  nearly  the 
end  of  some  young  folks,  the  drain  of  energy  show- 
ing itself  in  a  lack  of  serious  attention  to  matters 
of  vital  concern.  The  old  adage, — "Nine  hours 
of  sleep  and  a  clean  conscience, "  is  not  a  bad  one. 

While  too  much  and  too  intense  social  life  is 
fatiguing,  we  cannot,  however,  deny  the  fact  that 
excitement  in  a  moderate  degree  is  expansive  to 
the  soul  of  a  youth,  somewhat  as  crying  is  to  the 
lungs  of  a  baby.  Yet  we  ought  to  be  able  to  limit 
the  social  life  of  high  school  young  folks  chiefly  to 

Friday  evenings. 
I**-*"" 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  2£ 

Still  further,  the  youth  may  be  taught  to  take 
advantage  of  the  high  tides  to  get  out  on  new 
levels  of  thought  and  action;  to  start  desired 
habits  when  the  energy  is  at  flood. 

SKILL 

By  the  time  adolescence  is  reached,  "the  brain 
has  attained  practically  its  full  size  and  weight. 
The  latter  additions  are  mainly  in  the  association 
areas,  where  a  few  more  grams  of  substance,  de- 
veloped just  where  it  is  most  efficient,  may  add 
vastly  to  the  mental  power.  The  sensory  and 
motor  areas  are  fully  matured.  Improvement  is 
now  to  be  expected,  mainly  in  quickness  and  pre- 
cision of  movement  and  in  complexity  of  action 
of  the  finer  muscles  of  wrist,  hand  and  fingers." 
.(Tyler's  "Growth  and  Education,"  page  180.) 

With  larger  and  smaller  muscles  now  developed 
and  the  brain  having  reached  full  size  and  weight, 
there  is  an  instinctive  yearning  for  those  physical 
activities  which  require  the  correlation  of  muscu- 
lar movements,  that  is,  skill.  Games  with  their 
specific  rules;  campcraft,  with  its  varied  and  at- 
tractive list  of  necessities  and  achievements; 
athletics,  with  their  records  and  standards  all 
make  a  vigorous  appeal  to  youth.  The  use  of 
canoe  paddle,  axe,  baseball  bat,  running  shoes,  or 


26  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

snowshoes  adds  greatly  to  the  zest  and  thrill  of 
physical  activity. 

HEALTH  HABITS 

The  dependence  of  physical  growth  and  devel- 
opment upon  activity,  whether  work  or  play,  is 
absolute.  The  difference  between  an  athlete  and 
an  invalid  may  be  the  difference  between  the 
results  of  activity  and  inactivity.  Physical  well- 
being  depends  directly  upon  the  circulation  of 
the  blood,  action  of  the  lungs,  the  ready  digestion 
of  food  and  ability  to  throw  off  all  waste  material. 
All  of  these  physical  processes  are  stimulated  by 
wholesome  physical  activities.  Health — that  pri- 
mary consideration — that  boon  which  is  of  even 
greater  importance  than  an  education,  can  be 
built  up  and  sustained  only  by  keeping  those 
vital  organs  fit  to  do  their  work.  When  they 
become  irregular  and  unreliable,  health  is  endan- 
gered. 

Health  may  become  a  permanent  possession 
through  the  building  up  of  habits  which  stabilize 
and  regulate  the  actions  of  the  vital  physical 
organs.  There  are  desirable  habits  of  breathing, 
personal  carriage,  eating,  sleeping,  recreation, 
bathing,  excretion,  which  can  be  fastened  upon 
life  and  most  easily  and  securely  during  adoles- 
cence. This  matter  is  worthy  of  the  most  serious 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  27 

and  painstaking  consideration.  There  is  much 
practical  wisdom  in  the  "KYB  O"  adage,  keep 
your  bowels  open. 

PHYSICAL  GROWTH  DURING  EARLY  ADOLESCENCE 

The  years,  twelve,  thirteen,  fourteen  and  in 
many  cases,  fifteen,  constitute  a  period  of  rapid 
but  uneven  growth.  This  growing  power,  however, 
is  not  distributed  evenly  throughout  the  body. 
Bones  may  increase  in  length  more  rapidly  than  the 
muscles  attached  to  them.  In  the  muscles  thus 
stretched,  unduly,  growing  pains  are  felt.  When 
the  muscles  become  relatively  longer  than  the 
bones,  awkwardness,  embarrassment  and  loose-_ 
ness  of  carriage  result.  The  irregular  growth  of 
some  cities  is  not  unlike  ^hat  is  taking  place  in 
the  early  adolescent  body.  Rapid  expansion 
takes  place,  first  in  one  direction  and  then  in 
another. 

The  period  of  accelerated  growth  of  the  heart, 
digestive  organs  and  lungs  begins  at  about  .the 
fourteenth  year.  If  the  other  parts  of  the  body 
have  already  had  one  or  two  years  of  rapid  en- 
largement, the  danger  of  over-exertion  is  readily 
seen.  These  organs  need  the  stimulation  that 
comes  from  wholesome  exercise  in  order  to  carry 
the  excessive  burden  resulting  from  this  lack  of 
balance.  Every  period  of  rapid  physical  growth 


28  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

is  also  a  time  of  physical  restlessness.  But  ex- 
cessive strain  must  now  be  carefully  avoided,  at 
least  until  a  proper  balance  is  once  more  estab- 
Ijsjied. 

The  most  important  physical  needs  of  early 
adolescence  are  good  health,  plenty  of  nourish- 
ing food  served  in  appetizing  ways;  frequent, 
varied,  regular,  and  pleasurable  out-door  exercise; 
as  much  sleep  as  nature  demands;  absolute  free- 
dom from  unhygienic  conditions;  work  that  is 
suitable  in  view  of  the  greater  amount  of  energy 
and  of  the  danger  of  excessive  strain;  protection 
against  abnormal  social  demands,  school  require- 
ments, and  precocious  vocational  specialization. 
There  is  no  substitute  for  a  home  environment 
I  that  is  permeated  with  intelligent  sympathy  and 
Ithat  guards  against  physical  irregularities. 

DEVELOPMENT    DURING    MIDDLE   ADOLESCENCE 

After  two  or  three  years  of  this  rapid,  uneven 
growth  and  lack  of  balance,  a  re-adjustment  takes 
place  which  is  accompanied  by  a  new  sense  of 
energy  and  power.  A  new  delight  in  motion  and 
sensation  is  awakened.  These  form  the  basis  of 
some  of  the  physical  conditions  that  obtain  during 
the  middle  years  of  the  adolescent  period.  There 
is  a  consciousness  of  new  passions  and  powers 
which  is  sometimes  overwhelming. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  29 

From  the  physiological  point  of  view,  the  years 
fifteen,  sixteen  and  seventeen  are  critical.  The 
instability  of  the  preceding  period  disappears. 
Now  the  settling  down  process  is  seen.  The  result 
is  that  permanent  physical  habits  and  conditions 
are  being  determined.  The  rate  of  growth  is 
lower  than  in  the  preceding  years.  The  parts  are 
now  becoming  adjusted  to  each  other.  The  youth 
is  now  finding  himself,  physically. 

Every  new  machine  has  a  period — after  its 
parts  have  been  assembled — when  it  is  "tried  out " 
to  see  if  the  parts  work  together  smoothly,  each 
one  doing  its  full  share  of  work.  Not  until  the 
"try  out"  can  it  be  ascertained  just  what  the  y 
power  of  the  machine  will  be.  Middle  adolescence 
is  the  time  of  physiological  "try  out."  It  may 
now  be  discovered  that  there  is  one  weak  organ. 
Friction  or  disturbance  will  develop  at  that  point. 
The  other  organs  have  to  adjust  themselves  to 
this  condition  thus  lowering  the  vitality  of  the 
whole  body. 

This  experience  of  adaptation  and  testing,  when 
the  physical  integrity  of  the  entire  body  is  being 
determined,  may  be  gradual  and  prolonged,  or  it 
may  be  of  very  short  duration  and  quite  sudden. 
It  is  critical  because  of  the  possible  permanent 
injury  that  comes  as  a  result  of  the  prolongation 
of  a  fundamental  weakness  in  the  mutual  adjust- 


30  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ment  of  the  parts.  An  engine  may  be  perma- 
nently crippled  if,  during  the  "try  out  "one  part  is 
allowed  to  rattle  about  when  it  should  have  been 
firmly  fixed  and  doing  its  own  work.  For  a  boy 
or  girl  to  go  through  the  years  fifteen,  sixteen,  and 
seventeen,  carrying  the  burden  of  some  physical 
weakness,  is  serious.  It  may  result  in  permanent 
disability  or  low  vitality.  The  habit  of  health 
and  one  hundred  per  cent  physical  efficiency  is  the 
most  fundamentally  important  achievement  dur- 
ing middle  adolescence.  The  permanent  con- 
quest of  nervousness,  irritability,  unreliability, 
instability,  depends  very  largely  upon  the  mode 
of  life  during  this  period  of  final  adjustment. 

During  these  years,  increase  in  the  size  and 
strength  of  the  heart  is  especially  noteworthy. 
Before  and  during  early  puberty,  it  is  relatively 
small.  But  during  senior  high  school  age,  its 
increase  is  about  sixty  per  cent.  This  growth  is 
more  rapid  in  girls  than  in  boys.  The  arteries, 
during  this  period,  are  relatively  slow  in  expanding, 
hence,  a  higher  blood  pressure.  The  increase  in 
lung  capacity,  especially  with  boys,  is  very  marked. 
Red  corpuscles  multiply  rapidly  and  thus  contrib- 
ute greatly  to  physical  health  and  vigor.  There 
is  a  general  sensitizing  of  the  organs  of  touch, 
sight,  hearing,  smelling  and  tasting. 

According   to   some   authorities,   the   physical 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  31 

vitality  of  girls  does  not  increase  at  as  high  rate 
during  the  years  fourteen,  fifteen,  and  sixteen,  as 
it  does  during  the  previous  three  years.  The 
average  annual  rate  of  increase  during  early  adoles- 
cence is  about  nine  and  three-quarters  per  cent. 
While  during  middle  adolescence,  it  is  about  five 
and  one-quarter  per  cent.  At  sixteen  years  of 
age,  the  annual  rate  of  increase  in  vital  capacity 
is  the  highest,  namely,  nearly  sixteen  per  cent.  At 
seventeen,  it  is  less  than  twelve  per  cent  and  at 
eighteen,  it  is  only  about  five  per  cent.  This 
decrease  in  the  rate  of  vital  capacity  should  not 
be  confused  with  decreases  in  vital  capacity. 
Throughout  middle  adolescence  vital  capacity 
actually  increases. 

THE  LATER  ADOLESCENT  BODY 

Under  normal  conditions,  when  the  eighteenth 
year  is  reached,  the  vitality  of  the  body  is  no 
longer  used  up  in  growth  or  in  the  adaptation  of 
the  parts  to  each  other.  "Growth  fatigue  and 
mental  ferment"  disappear.  A  maximum  of  en- 
ergy is  therefore  released  and  is  turned  into  voca- 
tional, social,  athletic,  intellectual  and  other  chan- 
nels. National  and  international  athletic  records 
are  now  made.  The  muscular  system  is  possessed 
of  its  full  power- and  it  responds  readily  and  accu- 
rately to  the  mind- 


32  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

With  many,  this  is  the  period  of  reintegration 
due  to  necessary  adaptation  to  some  type  of  voca- 
tion or  permanent  responsibility.  Great  skill 
along  these  particular  lines  is  achieved,  during  a 
relatively  short  period  of  time.  There  is  increased 
capacity  to  make  adjustments. 

The  health  habits  built  up  in  former  years 
should  now  be  carefully  guarded.  There  are 
limits  of  endurance,  ^  deprivation,  strain,  beyond 
which  one  cannot  go  without  facing  appropriate 
penalties.  Young  people  should  learn  to  be  con- 
tent, having  done  the  reasonable  thing.  In  these 
cases  where  intensely  specialized  forms  of  work  are 
taken  up,  appropriate  forms  of  recreation  should 
be  maintained  in  order  to  preserve  the  physical 
integrity  of  the  body.  No  mortgage  should  be 
placed  upon  either  mind  or  body  during  these 
years.  The  sense  of  power,  keen  delight  in  com- 
petition, joy  in  extraordinary  achievements  and 
vigorous  altruistic  impulses,  all  occasion  a  word  of 
serious  warning.  The  Greek  philosopher  was 
wise  who  said,  "Avoid  extremes." 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP  STUDY 

1.  Explain  the  law  of  rhythm  that  is  seen  in 
the  physical  growth  and  development  of  adoles- 
cents. 

£.  Why  is  it  important  for  early  adolescent 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  33 

young  people  to  understand  their  own  sex  devel- 
opment? 

3.  Why  should  they  have  interests  and  activi- 
ties that  take  their  attention  away  from  them- 
selves? 

4.  Of  what  value  is  the  emphasis  upon  skill? 

5.  What  are  some  of  the  health  habits  that 
should  be  built  up  during  these  years? 

6.  Describe  the  physical  growth  of  early  adoles- 
cence. 

7.  How   would   you   characterize    the    middle 
adolescent  development? 

8.  How  does  the  later  adolescent  body  differ 
from  that  of  the  preceding  three  years? 

9.  Of  what  special  value  are  group  and  team 
games?     Campcraft?     Handicraft?     Woodcraft? 


CHAPTER    III 
MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT 

THE  PARTING  OF  THE  WAYS. 

Adolescence  is  by  far  the  most  critical  period  in 
the  entire  mental  life  of  the  individual.  For 
many,  it  represents  the  parting  of  the  ways — one 
leading  to  natural  vigor,  intensity  of  applica- 
tion, normal  or  continued  growth,  and  keen- 
ness of  interest;  the  other,  to  premature  de- 
terioration of  the  mind's  power  and  discon- 
tinued growth.  The  conditions  out  of  which 
permanent  mental  soundness  or  weakness  arise 
have  now  arrived  and  usually  are  such  as  to  yield 
to  the  influences  which  parents,  teachers  and  lead- 
ers can  control. 

It  is  especially  during  middle  adolescence  that 
the  mental  power  is  heavily  taxed.  Life  purposes 
are  not  yet  stable.  Various  moods  come  and  go. 
Excitability  is  at  its  height.  There  is  unusually 
sensitive  appreciation  of  all  sensory  experiences. 
Impulses  are  numerous  and  vigorous.  The  future 
calls  loudly  and  ambitions  are  stirred.  For  sup- 
port in  forming  judgments  or  in  deciding  what  is 
right  and  wrong,  the  mind  no  longer  leans  on  par- 
ents— as  it  once  did.  Persons,  especially  friends, 
34 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  35 

who  differ  in  opinion,  cannot  be  treated  with  in- 
difference. The  wear  and  tear  of  opinionativeness 
and  intolerance  upon  the  mind  is  great.  That 
superb  moral  achievement — self-control — has  not 
yet  been  fully  realized.  In  the  midst  of  greatly 
varied  and  even  antagonistic  influences,  every  day 
is  a  hard  day  when  the  mind  is  passing  through  the 
experience  of  middle  adolescence.  (See  Stedrnan, 
"Mental  Pitfalls  of  Adolescence,"  page  9.) 

Not  infrequently  the  profound  physical  changes 
and  these  excessive  mental  burdens  that  take 
place  during  early  and  middle  adolescence  consti- 
tute too  great  a  strain  upon  the  mind.  It  begins 
to  act  like  an  oyer-worked  engine.  From  this 
point  onward  it  may  tend  to  lose  rather  than  gain 
power.  The  symptoms  of  this  early  loss  of  mental 
vitality  vary  greatly  but  they  should  be  under- 
stood by  all  those  adult  leaders  having  adolescent 
boys  and  girls  in  charge. 

It  is  when  these  symptoms  first  appear  that  it 
is  easiest  to  remove  the  causes  and  prevent  serious 
consequences.  In  the  more  mild  cases,  a  general 
apathy  or  indifference  is  seen.  The  days  are  spent 
in  indolence.  Interests  that  ought  to  make  a 
strong  appeal  fail  to  awaken  a  sense  of  value  or 
the  usual  response.  Social  sensitiveness  is  so 
great  that  one  shrinks  from  accepting  invitations 
or  appearing  in  society.  Life  becomes  aimless. 


36  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Capacity  for  effort  is  lacking.  Under  injudicious 
or  harmful  treatment,  such  individuals  drift  to- 
ward delinquency  such  as  is  seen  in  the  tramp, 
the  crank,  the  mild  criminal  or  the  prostitute. 
"The  'hobo'  class  is  largely  recruited  from  these 
mental  derelicts."  (Stedman,  "Mental  Pitfalls 
of  Adolescence,"  page  5.) 

Premature  deterioration  of  mental  power  is 
found  especially  among  adolescents  who  have 
what  might  be  called  the  "shut-in"  temperament. 
Physicians  say  that  many  instances  have  been 
found  among  those  who  have  had  "no  natural 
tendency  to  be  open  and  to  get  into  contact  with 
people  and  things  about  them,  who  were  reticent 
and  exclusive  and  could  not  adapt  themselves  to 
situations,  who  were  hard  to  influence  and  often 
sensitive  and  stubborn,  but  the  latter  more  in  a 
passive  than  an  active  way.  They  showed  little 
interest  in  what  went  on  and  frequently  did  not 
participate  in  the  pleasures,  cares  and  pursuits  of 
those  about  them;  although  often  sensitive  they 
did  not  let  others  know  what  their  mental  conflicts 
were;  did  not  unburden  their  minds,  were  shy  and 
had  a  tendency  to  live  in  a  world  of  fancies. " 

As  soon  as  such  a  young  person  is  conscious  of 
his  social  weakness,  or  feels  that  he  is  losing  his 
former  self-confidence  or  self-reliance,  the  nervous 
strain  is  greatly  increased.  Shame,  sorrow,  dis- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  37 

couragement  may  become  an  almost  permanent 
mental  state.  Only  now  and  then  is  the  spell 
broken.  The  sense  of  being  odd  because  of  per- 
sonal inferiority  is  very  hard  to  bear.  Any  one 
thus  afflicted  is  already  on  the  road  that  leads 
finally  to  chronic  sleeplessness,  abnormal  irrita- 
bility or  permanent  dementia. 

How  TO  CONTROL  MENTAL  DEVELOPMENT 

In  order  to  prevent  such  disastrous  consequences 
and  to  turn  the  mind,  during  the  critical  years,  in 
the  direction  of  gradually  increasing  power,  the 
first  concern  is  with  physical  conditions.  Sir 
Thomas  Clouston,  the  famous  Scotch  psychiatrist, 
offers  the  following  advice :  "  Build  up  the  bone  and 
fat  and  muscle  by  means  known  to  us  during  the 
period  of  growth  and  development.  Make  fresh 
air  the  breath  of  life  of  the  young.  Develop  lower 
centers  rather  than  higher  where  there  is  a  bad  he- 
redity. Do  not  cultivate,  rather  restrain,  the  im- 
aginative and  artistic  faculties  and  sensitiveness 
and  the  idealisms  generally  in  cases  where  such  tend 
to  appear  too  early  and  too  keenly.  They  will  be 
rooted  in  a  better  brain  and  body  basis  if  they  come 
later.  Cultivate  and  insist  upon  an  orderliness 
and  method  in  all  things.  The  weakly  neurotic 
is  always  disorderly,  unbusiness-likeand  unsystem- 
atic. Fatness,  self-control,  and  orderliness  are 


38  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  three  most  important  qualities  for  them  to 
aim  at. " 

To  build  up  "  a  reserve  fund  of  bodily  nutrition" 
— which  is  a  fundamental  principle  of  mental 
management — involves  regular,  wholesome  physi- 
cal exercise.  Sedentary  habits  do  not  yield"  husky' ' 
appetites.  Good  eating  habits  should  be  main- 
tained at  any  cost.  It  is  careless  indifference  to 
the  nutrition  of  the  body  that  has  caused  many 
young  people  to  become  irritable,  anaemic,  easily 
fatigued,  and  to  crave  stimulants.  "Hastily 
snatched  breakfasts  and  lunches  of  sweets  and 
pastry,"  and  meals  wholly  neglected  have  a  direct 
bearing  upon  mental  condition. 

KEEP  OPEN  THE  CHANNELS  OF  EXPRESSION 

A  second  principle  of  management  may  be 
summed  up  in  the  words:  Keep  open  the  channels 
fof  expression  and  communication.  Adolescence 
is  a  time  of  increased  social  sensitiveness.  Among 
certain  types  of  individuals  this  natural  sensitive- 
ness becomes  excessive  and  leads  to  shyness,  diffi- 
dence, painful  self-awareness,  morbid  fear,  a 
shrinking  from  social  contacts,  exaggerated  notions 
of  the  importance  of  trifling  faults  or  mistakes, 
embarrassment  on  occasions  that  call  for  self- 
confidence,  or  timidity  in  the  presence  of  social 
opportunities.  The  result  is  that  gradually  the 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  39 

power  of  communication  or  of  self-expression  is 
lost.  The  mind  closes  in  upon  itself.  Its  win- 
dows become  darkened.  It  feeds  upon  itself  in- 
stead of  upon  the  thoughts  of  others.  Incidents 
that  should  be  forgotten,  constantly  torment  and 
annoy.  A  mental  condition  results  which  causes 
them  to  be  misunderstood.  This  leads  to  still 
further  embarrassment  and  hesitation  in  meet- 
ing others. 

Before  these  conditions  reach  an  advanced  stage 
membership  in  a  social  group,  participation  in 
social  activities,  the  discovery  of  friends  or  com- 
panions, and  the  establishment  of  intimate  per- 
sonal relations  with  a  hero  or  adoree  are  of  inestim- 
able value.  Sympathy  and  encouragement,  to- 
gether with  sincere  appreciation  go  a  long  way 
toward  lifting  the  adolescent  mind  out  of  this  pit- 
fall. Approachability,  conversational  power  and 
social  ease  may  be  difficult  lessons  for  this  type 
of  individual  to  learn,  but  they  are  learned  through 
objective  interests  and  self-expression  supported* 
by  a  social  motive  and  in  a  proper  social  en- 
vironment. 

The  value  of  active  interest  in  woodcraft,  the 
making  of  collections  of  various  kinds,  exercises 
that  develop  the  power  of  observation  and  appre- 
ciation, handicraft,  art  and  industrial  crafts  can 
hardly  be  over-estimated.  To  achieve  power 


40  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

of  expression  through  practice  in  the  use  of  oral 
English  is  one  of  the  most  wholesome  and  stimu- 
lating means  of  mental  development  during  these 
years. 

GUARD  AGAINST  OVER-STIMULATING 

A  third  principle  is:  avoid  the  over-stimulation 
of  those  who  are  mentally  precocious.  The  minds 
that  are  naturally  most  gifted  are  apt  to  be  most 
sensitive  to  influences  that  quicken  activity. 
"Over-study,  of  itself  rarely  productive  of  mental 
disorder,  causes  many  a  delicate  girl  or  lad  of  the 
'shut-in'  type  to  succumb  to  mental  disease, 
when  poor  circumstances  increase  the  struggle  for 
education"  (Stedman,  "Mental  Pitfalls  of  Adoles- 
cence," page  13) .  Under  the  strain  of  competition 
or  fear  of  public  humiliation,  or  desire  to  please 
a  particular  friend,  or  abnormal  interest  of  any 
kind,  such  young  people  are  apt  to  over-exert 
themselves.  The  results  are  serious.  This  mind 
is  not  yet  seasoned  to  such  hardships.  The  foun- 
dations for  prolonged,  intense  application — 
especially  in  an  atmosphere  of  anxiety — have  not 
yet  been  laid.  Therefore,  protection  from  over- 
stimulation  becomes  imperative. 

MENTAL  BENEFITS  OF  RELIGIOUS  FAITH 

A  fourth  principle  is  well  expressed  in  that 
favorite  hymn  of  adolescents:  "What  a  friend  we 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  41 

/ 

have  in  Jesus."  The  one  who  does  not  have  a 
vital,  personal  faith  in  God  carries  burdens  of 
pain,  of  grief,  of  a  sense  of  guilt  or  of  weakness 
which  at  times  may  seem  almost  unbearable. 
Often  the  mental  annoyer  is  such  that  it  is  impos- 
sible to  share  it  with  any  human  friend.  To  know 
that  He  understands  and  really  cares  brings  relief. 
When  the  adolescent  sings  "What  a  fellowship, 
what  a  joy  divine!  Leaning  on  the  everlasting 
arms,"  he  is  describing  what  actually  takes  place. 

This  vital,  personal  religion  has  saved  multf^ 
tudes  of  adolescent  minds  from  yielding  to  de- 
spondency and  fear.  Prayer  is  intensely  social.  It 
keeps  open  the  channels  of  expression.  It  helps 
the  mind  to  turn  away  from  self.  To  realize  that 
Jesus  carried  burdens  and  sorrows  heavier  and 
more  poignant  than  ones  own  helps  one  to  place 
a  true  value  upon  what,  in  reality,  are  relatively 
meager  hardships.  To  believe  that  the  universe, 
at  heart,  is  kindly  disposed,  that  the  heart  of  the 
Eternal  is  wonderfully  kind  awakens  confidence 
and  trust.  Faith  in  God  helps  one  to  overcome 
the  world. 

The  most  dangerous  and  often  damaging  form 
of  religion  to  which  the  adolescent  young  people 
of  America  have  ever  been  exposed  is  that  which 
teaches  them  to  ignore  or  to  deny  the  reality  of 
what  actually  does  exist.  An  irritating  memory'or 


42  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

a  permanent  source  of  melancholia  or  other  mental 
or  physical  weakness  may  become  buried  and  con- 
tinue to  injure  the  mind  and  body  because  its 
reality  was  not  acknowledged  and  its  power  an- 
nihilated through  confession  and  faith. 

EMOTIONAL  CHANGES 

The  emotional  life  now  undergoes  great  and  sud- 
den changes.  Instead  of  the  apparent  stolidity  of 
childhood,  the  mental  energies,  especially  when 
physical  growth  and  vitality  are  near  their  flood- 
tide,  are  most  lively.  The  young  person  craves 
the  intensifying  of  personal  life  even  to  the  point 
of  intoxication.  He  wants  to  be  out  nights  and  to 
be  entertained  constantly.  He  desires  to  live  in  a 
larger  world  than  that  which  he  sees  around  him. 
His  parents  seem  to  him,  as  Tyler  says,  to  know 
"  very  little  of  the  glories  of  life  and  of  this  exceed- 
ingly good  world." 

The  result  is  that  the  ideals  and  activities  of 
the  home  often  appear  insignificant  and  hum- 
drum, and  he  desires  to  break  away  from  parental 
authority.  He  is  self-assertive  because,  for  the 
first  time,  he  is  consciously  becoming  an  individual 
in  the  fuller  sense.  While  on  this  quest  for  him- 
self, he  often  feels  a  joyous  defiance  and  engages 
in  wild  larks,  injurious  habits  and  reckless  dis- 
regard of  law,  such  conduct  often  gets  him  into 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  43 

trouble.    Because  of  his  insistence  upon  individ- 
uality he  seems  to  us  to  be  absolutely  selfish. 

To  the  adult,  this  restlessness  often  appears  to 
be  simply  contrariness.  The  youth  likes  at  this  * 
time  to  have  all  his  doings  taken  for  granted.  He 
hates  to  be  questioned.  Sometimes  he  seems  to 
enjoy  giving  the  impression  of  having  done  some- 
thing contrary  to  law  or  propriety  by  the  roman- 
tic care  he  takes  to  cover  up  some  trifling  adven- 
ture. And  if  the  youth  be  not  bumptious,  then 
morbidness  (among  girls)  or  shyness  or  shame  and 
the  inability  to  express  one's  self  (among  both  boys 
and  girls)  in  turn  causes  him  to  be  misunderstood. 

The  characteristic  emotion  of  this  period  is  am77 
bition.    The  youth  is  making  building-plans  for  hisJ 
whole  life.   He  has  an  unlimited  sense  of  power; 
nothing  seems  impossible.  It  is  at  times  surprising 
to    him   that  everyone  else  does   not  recognize 
his  ability  or  agree  with  his  judgments.   There  is 
a  notable  difference  between  the  ambitions  of  this 
period  and  those  of  the  preceding  one.  The  young 
child  was  ambitious  for  the  immediate  present,  for 
something  he  wants  to  do  at  the  moment;  the, 
adolescent  begins  to  be  ambitious  for  the  future^] 
for  what  he  is  to  be. 

In  these  early  years,  there  is  a  paradoxical  mix- 
ing of  perspective  in  these  ambitions.  The  future 
for  which  plans  are  made  is  but  a  little  distant — 


44  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

"when  I  am  a  man,"  or  a  woman,  will  be  here  in 
five  or  six  years.  But  there  is  little  allowance  for 
progress  after  that  estate  is  reached.  Not  yet  can 
the  boy  and  girl  see  the  years  that  lie  beyond 
twenty-five  or  thirty  except  as  that  indistinct  and 
mercifully  fore-shortened  state  of  "old  age!"  But 
as  the  middle  teens  are  entered,  comes  experience 
of  what  it  costs  to  carry  out  plans,  and  while  the 
young  child  was  fully  self -sufficient,  the  adolescent, 
at  time,  begins  to  doubt  his  sufficiency. 

So  even  the  feeling  of  ambition  has  its  setbacks. 
The  eager  young  spirit  enjoys  day  dreams,  from 
the  unfounded  ecstasy  of  which  he  often  awakens 
to  bitter  disillusions.  His  lack  of  judgment  and 
self-control  leads  him  into  many  costly  experi- 
ments. Never  were  his  self-expressions  so  enthu- 
siastic— or  so  clumsy.  His  lack  of  adjustment 
with  his  social  circle  sometimes  humiliates  him  and 
causes  him  to  feel  hostile.  He  is  also  sometimes 
haunted  by  fears  due  to  ignorance  of  his  physical 
nature  or  to  misinformation  which  has  come  to 
him  from  surreptitious  sources. 

Not  only  is  the  youth  distressed  by  his  mistakes 
and  misunderstandings,  but  sometimes  he  be- 
comes discouraged.  During  some  one  of  the  lulls 
in  his  growth  referred  to  above,  he  suddenly  feels 
a  lack  of  physical  or  mental  energy.  At  times,  too, 
his  old  childish  self  seems  to  return. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  45 

A  certain  adolescent  boy  confided  to  his  father 
his  purpose  to  commit  suicide.  The  wise  parent 
listened  to  the  confession  calmly  and  asked  for . 
the  reason.  This  youth  had  just  come  to  a  sud- 
den and  full  realization  of  the  competitive  basis 
of  society  and  felt  his  inability  to  make  his  way 
with  the  whole  world  against  him. 

But  underneath  all  this  apparent  fickleness, 
there  is  what  Dr.  G.  Stanley  Hall  calls  "the  pro- 
founder  drift  of  his  will,"  referring  to  the  fact  that 
underneath  the  surface  billows  or  changing  in- 
terests there  is  being  felt  the  deep  swell  of  a  tidal 
life-purpose. 

The  adolescent  girl  may  or  may  not  be  so  ob- 
viously in  a  state  of  revolution  as  the  boy,  but  her 
sense  of  being  too  great  for  her  straightened  and 
unsympathetic  environment  is  as  intense.  She 
begins  earlier  to  pay  attention  to  the  other  sex. 
For  most  girls  of  fourteen  to  seventeen  it  is  a 
necessity  of  a  life  to  be  paid  attention  to. 

For  this  reason  she  takes  much  thought  as  to 
what  she  shall  put  on.  There  are  great  individual 
differences  as  to  the  preferred  source  of  attention. 
Some  specialize  in  preventing  the  teacher's  life 
from  becoming  monotonous,  some  prefer  the 
approval  of  adults  for  their  dazzling  scholastic 
achievements,  and  some  have  no  other  desire  than 
to  be  surrounded  by  boys — and  be  the  envy  of 


46  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

other  girls.  Concealment  of  the  larger,  adven- 
turous life  has  advantages  over  open  conflict,  and 
the  concealment  itself  adds  a  glamor  to  adven- 
ture. So  she  is  now  in  the  period  of  escapades  and 
the  watchful  mother  should  be  doubly  vigilant. 
Now  is  the  time,  as  the  almanac  says,  to  look  out 
for  "dates"  at  the  post  office  or  library,  "picking 
up"  attractive  male  acquaintances,  church  flirta- 
tions, etc.  So  much  for  the  background. 

A  MULTITUDE  OF  INTERESTS 

This  is  also  the  time  of  an  unlimited  number  of 
interests.  There  is  almost  no  subject  in  which  it 
is  impossible  to  interest  an  adolescent  eagerly. 
His  sense  of  potency  is  accompanied  by  the  keen- 
est and  broadest  intellectual  curiosity.  Yet  such 
is  the  fear  of  being  either  ridiculed  or  patronized, 
that  both  in  and  out  of  school,  the  youth's  reserve 
often  causes  him  to  seem  absolutely  indifferent  to 
topics  toward  which  he  feels  the  most  intense  curi- 
osity. This  strange  reserve  often  creates  an  es- 
trangement between  himself  and  his  parents  and 
teachers.  The  resulting  estrangement  in  turn  may 
be  intensified  by  the  fact  that  one  interest  suc- 
ceeds another  rapidly,  and  entirely  displaces  it. 
Naturally,  the  parent  feels  that  the  child  is  fickle 
and  has  no  continuity  of  purpose. 

Because  of  his  inability  to  see  the  practical  re- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  47 

lations  of  new  intellectual  subjects  to  his  future 
and  partly  because  of  the  poor  adjustment  of  the 
school  curriculum  to  his  interests  and  needs,  many 
a  high-school  pupil  now  loses  enthusiasm  for  his 
text-books,  becomes  inattentive,  fails  in  applica- 
tion to  his  studies,  hates  school.  Let  us  parents 
and  leaders  not  think  of  ourselves  more  highly 
than  we  ought  to  think,  however,  and  be  blaming 
the  school  teachers  too  much. 

"It  will  probably  never  be  an  easy  task  for  the 
school,"  says  a  sensible  educator,  "with  its  hours 
of  impersonal  mental  application,  to  compete  with 
the  sex  interests,  the  sporting  interests',  and  the 
great  complex  of  other  social  interests  which  make 
such  an  appeal  to  the  adolescent.  What  a  natu- 
ral pull  there  is  away  from  the  humdrum!  How 
can  a  boy  who  is  feeling  all  the  raptures  and  pangs 
of  a  first  love  hold  himself  down  to  the  bromidic 
charms  of  Sir  Roger  de  Coverley  or  to  figure  out 
on  paper  the  velocity  of  falling  bodies  when  he  is 
all  in  a  quiver  to  catch  a  three-bagger  in  the  south 
field." 

Many  now  want  to  go  to  work,  partly,  to  escape 
school  and  partly  to  earn  money  for  their  pleasures. 
Stealing,  when  it  occurs  now,  is  usually  for  this 
latter  reason.  With  boys,  especially,  a  spirit  of 
wanderlust  is  awakened. 


48  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  EMOTIONS 

In  the  emotional  realm  the  problem  is  how  to 
help  the  youth  to  organize  and  interpret  his  chang- 
ing experiences  and  to  meet  his  doubts  frankly  and 
cheerfully,  being  patient  with  his  sudden  aversions 
and  equally  sudden  fancies,  using  praise  much 
more  generously  than  blame.  While  there  is  never 
a  time  when  he  prizes  good  advice  so  little  as  during 
this  period,  he  is  so  subservient  to  public  opinion 
that  he  is  grateful  for  all  information  concerning 
social  usages,  and  usually  responds.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  a  very  important  preliminary  to 
doing  righ't  is  to  know  what  is  right,  and  we, 
perhaps,  expect  too  much  in  this  direction.  Skilful 
indeed  is  that  adult  leader  who  can  avoid  "the 
high  pulpit  method"  and  succeed  once  in  a  while 
in  slipping  some  counsel  over  the  unsuspecting 
youth. 

L  Especially  is  this  true  of  girls.  "A  boy,"  says 
G.  Stanley  Hall,  "has  some  self -knowledge,,  a  girl 
understands  very  little  of  herself  or  of  the  motives 
of  her  conduct,  for  her  life  is  more  ruled  by  deep 
unconscious  instincts.  Her  self-consciousness  is 
reflected  knowledge  others  have  of  her."  And  so 
he  is  deeply  right  when  he  adds:  "Perhaps  she 
needs  just  now  a  mother-confessor." 

But  she  needs  also  plenty  of  vigorous  muscular 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  49  , 

activity.  A  sufficient  amount  of  automatic  emo- 
tion is  furnished  by  the  changes  going  on  within 
the  body  during  this  period  of  rapid  growth.  The 
only  way  to  keep  these  feelings  from  "blocking 
up"  and  causing  involuntary  disturbances  of  the 
heart,  stomach,  intestines,  and  other  vital  organs 
is  to  direct  them  toward  the  voluntary  muscles. 
Formation  of1  vigorous  and  well-organized  asso- 
ciations between  "feelings"  and  the  purposeful 
direction  of  energy  during  the  earlier  years  of 
adolescence  is  of  the  greatest  importance.  Serious 
emotional  difficulties  are  thus  avoided.  The  prob- 
lems of  wholesome  later  development  into  woman- 
hood are  thus  greatly  reduced.  In  this  way,  girls 
learn  how,  with  a  quiet  and  efficient  mind,  to 
approach  practical  tasks  and  carry  them  through 
to  completion. 

We  need  to  learn  to  bear  with  much  seeming 
impertinence,  which  is  ignorant  or  unintentional. 
A  very  successful  teacher  of  boys  states  that  the 
recipe  by  means  of  which  she  got  along  with  them 
was  this  maxim  given  her  by  an  older  friend:  "A 
boy  can't  insult  a  woman  (and  he  doesn't  want  to) . 
Never  let  yourself  doubt  it." 

We  have  said  that  the  youth  during  early  and 
middle  adolescence,  is  never  so  clumsy  in  his  ex- 
pression or  appreciation  of  affection  as  now  when 
he  needs  and  desires  it  most.  Remembering  this, 


50  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  home  should  redouble  its  affectionate  mani- 
festations but  carefully  avoid  a  patronizing  atti- 
tude. The  welcome  which  awaited  the  child  when 
he  came  into  the  world  should  await  him  every 
time  he  comes  home.  There  are,  as  Kirtley  tells 
us,  "certain  luminous  hours — the  home-coming 
hour,  the  meal  hour,  the  play  hour.  On  those 
hours  life's  high  lights  must  gleam." 

Young  persons  seem  especially  sensitive  now  to 
certain  regularities  in  the  home  festivals  and  re- 
unions, assuming  a  fresh  interest  in  the  ritual  of 
stocking-hanging  and  the  tree  at  Christmas,  in- 
sisting upon  birthdays  and  other  anniversaries  and 
reminiscing  with  evident  enjoyment  about  early 
homes  and  their  joys.  This  interest  is  precious, 
and  holds  much  content  of  family  loyalty  and 
pride. 

Remember  also,  that  the  development  which 
is  going  on  now  is  in  its  very  essence  the 
growth  of  the  parental,  in  instinct  and  attitude. 
They  can  now  "Rejoice  (they)  are  allied  to  That 
which  doth  provide  and  not  partake,  effect  and 
not  receive!"  When  the  older  children  are  taken 
into  the  happy  comraderie  of  the  parents  in  plan- 
ning these  home  celebrations,  parents  and  children 
will  both  hold  them  as  most  tender  memories,  and 
will  always  wish  afterward  that  there  had  been 
more  of  them. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  51 

Of  course,  the  seeming  impertinence  and  the 
clumsiness  in  the  expression  of  affectionate  emo- 
tions and  also  much  of  the  "contrariness"  are 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  the  young  people  are 
often  nervously  "on  edge."  "I  feel  all  right  if  you 
don't  ask  me,"  the  hysterical  girl's  reply  to  an 
inquiry  as  to  her  health,  is  quite  typical  of  the 
emotional  situation  during  much  of  this  period. 

Next  to  the  welcome  at  the  home-coming  hour, 
there  is  sincere  and  spontaneous  appreciation  of 
the  cheerfully  announced  arrival  in  the  midst  of  a 
social  group  outside  of  the  family  circle.  Member- 
ship in  suitable  organizations  within  the  church  or 
the  school  and,  later,  in  the  community,  goes  a 
long  way  toward  stabilizing  the  emotional  life. 
In  helping  the  other  fellow  who  is  discouraged,  a 
boy  goes  a  long  way  toward  fortifying  himself 
against  the  danger  of  surrender  to  discouragement. 
There  is  less  of  extreme  emotional  fluctuation  in  a 
group  of  boys  or  of  girls  than  in  an  individual 
youth.  If  the  ideals  of  the  group  are  consistent 
with  those  which  satisfy  the  most  fundamental 
desires  of  its  individual  members,  rapid  progress 
will  be  made  by  them  in  the  direction  of  emotional 
control. 

WILL 

Fundamentally  what  all  this  adolescent  turmoil 
and  change  indicates  is  this:  the  conscious  func- 


52  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

tioning  of  the  will.  We  dare  not  slash  at  it  ruth- 
lessly lest  we  destroy  its  vigor;  we  cannot  let  it 
grow  wild  lest  it  becomes  dangerous.  We  believe 
with  President  Stanley  Hall  that  the  will  is  really 
a  compound  of  our  interests  and  we  crave  that  our 
boys  and  girls  shall  carry  the  fresh  enthusiasms  of 
youth  on  into  the  sober  days  of  maturity.  The 
will  can  be  conscious  of  itself  only  through  its 
choices,  and  choice  is  limited  to  actions  or  to  ideas 
which  are  primarily  impressions  remembered  be- 
cause they  have  once  been  acted  upon.  A  sense 
of  value  is  awakened  when  choices  have  led  to 
pleasant  experiences. 

"The  whole  pedagogy  of  adolescence,"  says  Dr. 
E.  G.  Lancaster,  "is  to  inspire  enthusiastic  activ- 
ity." We,  therefore,  quietly  drop  the  word  "  don't" 
from  our  vocabulary.  We  endeavor  to  keep  the 
adolescent  active;  give  him  something  to  do,  but 
always,  within  carefully  guarded  social  relation- 
ships. We  give  him  his  religion  even,  especially 
during  early  and  middle  adolescence,  in  affairs  of 
doing  rather  than  of  believing.  These  affairs,  how- 
ever, must  be  carried  on  within  social  groups  and 
with  the  desire  to  do  good  to  others. 

Every  youth  should  do  what  he  wishes  part  of 
the  time,  but  should  be  definitely  directed  part  of 
the  time  and  should  always  have  something  be- 
sides himself  to  occupy  his  attention.  "Something 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  53 

in  which  he  is  interested,"  says  Kirkpatrick,  "that 
stimulates  him  to  achieve,  even  though  not  valua- 
ble in  itself,  is  absolutely  necessary.  All  sorts  of 
stunts  and  fads  may  thus  temporarily  serve  a  use- 
ful purpose." 

Do  we  realize  what  a  wholesome  part  physical 
training  and  athletics  may  have  as  time-fillers  and 
outlets  for  otherwise  aimless  and  unregulated 
energy?  In  the  athletics  of  a  well-conducted  high 
school,  which  are  not  only  accepted  but  actually 
regulated  by  the  school  faculty,  we  have  a  direct 
antidote  for  the  soft  sensuality  of  the  age,  a  direct 
stimulus  to  school  loyalty,  a  corrective  to  idle  day 
dreaming,  a  stimulus  for  scholarship,  and  a  broad- 
ening influence  by  the  travel,  the  business  experi- 
ences, and  the  sportsmanlikeness  which  are  exer- 
cised in  different  ways  through  inter-scholastic 
competition. 

Even  better  is  some  form  of  work  or  some  little 
enterprise  of  business,  because  it  is  productive.  A 
boy  who  has  learned  the  value  of  a  dollar  by  earn- 
ing it  is  not  as  likely  to  get  into  moral  difficulties 
as  one  who  regards  his  father  as  a  depository.   / 
The  wisdom  of  the  requirement  that  a  boy  earn  a 
certain  amount  of  money  and  deposit  it  in  aJ 
Savings  Bank  in  his  own  name  is  here  seen.  When 
a  boy  begins  to  appreciate  money  in  terms  of 
patient,  consistent  effort  or  service  rendered  to 


54  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

/ 

another,  its  true  value  is  brought  home  to  him. 
He'  should  learn  the  lesson  of  saving  as  well  as 
earning. 

There  is  sound  pedagogy  in  the  various  Govern- 
ment Clubs  that  combine  patriotism  and  personal 
achievement  in  productive  enterprises.  The  rais- 
ing of  hogs  and  chickens,  growing  of  vegetables, 
canning  and  other  methods  of  preserving,  if 
properly  directed,  awaken  keen  adolescent  in- 
terest. 

We  must  realize  that  we  are  now  dealing  with  a 
creature  who  is  beginning  to  get  up  speed  under 
his  own  motive  power.  Energy  that  is  new  in 
both  quantity  and  quality  is  being  generated. 
Selfdiscovery  and  understanding  on  the  part  of 
the  youth  must  have  its  complement  in  a  new 
and  suitable  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  parent 
or  leader. 

QUESTIONS   FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND   CLASS  STUDY 

1.  How  do  you  account  for  the  fickleness  or 
seeming  instability  of  youth? 

2.  Why  is  it  so  often  difficult  for  parents  and 
teachers  to  understand  adolescent  young  people? 

3.  Why  should  adolescent  boys  and  girls  gain 
the  habit  of  turning  their  attention  outwardly? 

4.  What  are  the  specific  mental  values  of  ath- 
letics?  Campcraft?   Handicraft? 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  55 

5.  What  conditions  tend  to  produce  premature 
mental  weakness? 

6.  Why  should  adolescent  young  people  keep 
open  the  channels  of  expression? 

7.  What  are   the   values   and   the   dangers  of 
adolescent  ambitions? 

8.  How  would  you  characterize  the  interests  of 
adolescent  young  people? 

9.  In  what  ways  can  adult  leaders  help  these 
young  people  to  throw  off  feelings  that  are  self- 
depressing? 


CHAPTER  IV 
SOCIAL  DEVELOPMENT 

CHILDHOOD'S  TREASURE  HOUSE 

The  task  of  the  adult  leader  of  adolescent  young 
people  is  to  guide  rather  than  to  govern.  His 
perilous  but  important  privilege  is  that  of  the 
progressive  transference  of  authority  from  himself 
to  them.  This  transfer  is  less  dangerous  in  those 
homes  and  churches  where  intelligent  provision 
has  been  made  for  it.  There  is  the  necessity  of 
filling  the  treasure  house  during  the  years  of  full- 
ness for  the  years  of  famine  that  are  to  follow. 
The  child  should  by  this  time  be  in  possession  of  a 
treasure  house  of  good  habits,  of  family  traditions, 
of  group  loyalties,  of  high  ideals  that  have  been 
crystallized  by  books  and  the  lives  of  great  men 
and  by  the  inspiration  of  living  and  dead  heroes. 
Out  of  this,  his  own  treasure  house,  his  life  should 
[  be  fed  as  he  starts  on  his  pilgrimage  into  maturity. 

It  would  seem  that,  in  a  well  regulated  family, 
while  it  is  not  desirable  that  one's  life  should  be 
directed  in  all  things  by  rule,  yet  some  things  by  the 
end  of  this  first  dozen  years,  should  have  come  to 
be  pretty  definitely  fixed.  Transition  into  adoles- 
cence does  not  involve  any  fundamental  changes 
56 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  57 

with  regard  to  the  daily  program  and  the  kind  of 
behavior  that  shall  be  permitted  under  various 
circumstances. 

But  in  following  out  these  old  habits,  a  new 
spirit  begins  to  be  discernible.  The  social  outlook 
is  enlarged.  The  girl  consults  her  mother  less 
about  the  details  of  her  toilet  and  the  boy  shuns 
the  old-established,  sympathetic  intercourse. 
Even  in  the  realms  of  habit,  there  is  manifested 
a  growing  individuality  that  makes  the t  youth 
feel  that  he  must  now  take  charge  of  his  own 
life.  "If,"  says  a  wise  adviser,  "the  mother 
can  only  be  wise  enough  to  let  go  of  the  arbitrary 
hand  of  parental  authority  and  grasp,  with  the 
gentle  hand  of  kindly  sympathy,  she  will  find  the 
grasp  firmer,  surer  and  stronger  with  the  passing 
years. " 

SELF-CORRECTIVE  EXPERIENCES 

The  guiding  principles  of  action  during  these    I 
years  should  be  not  so  much  the  judgment  of  the 
adult  leader  as  the  rights  of  others.     So  long  as  the 
young  person  is  not  making  himself  a  nuisance  to 
the  rest  of  the  family  or  group,  a  good  many  acts 
may  be  permitted  which  cannot  possibly  do  any 
harm  except  to  himself,  and  which,  perhaps,  will 
hardly  do  that  so  long  as  they  teach  him  the  wiser  ] 
way. 


58  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Under  this  head,  perhaps,  comes  the  matter  of 
clothing.  Many  a  mother  is  distracted  between  a 
son  who  wants  to  go  out  in  all  weathers  meagerly 
clad  and  a  daughter  who  wants  to  dress  unsuitably 
for  a  young  maiden.  She  feels  that  she  may  take 
some  risks  with  the  boy,  whose  warmer  tempera- 
ture and  greater  resisting  power  will  probably 
defend  him  from  physical  harm,  but  she  prays  for 
the  day  when  the  daughter  may  have  sense  and 
perception  enough  to  see  that  the  best  charm  of  a 
maiden  is  not  that  she  be  gaudily  conspicuous, 
but  that  she  looks  like  a  child  as  long  as  possible. 
For  this  latter  case  no  wiser  word  can  be  said  than 
that  of  President  Stanley  Hall:  "Broaden  by 
retarding. " 

SOCIAL  DEVELOPMENT  WITHIN  THE  FAMILY 

One  effective  method  of  establishing  happiness 
in  a  home,  by  mutual  limitation  of  annoyance  to 
others,  is  to  call  all  the  members  together  and  form 
a  partnership,  with  father  and  mother  as  the  senior 
members  of  the  firm;  each  child  being  apportioned 
some  particular  work  which  contributes  directly 
or  indirectly  to  the  comfort  of  all  the  others. 
One  contract,  which  was  drawn  up  in  an  actual 
home  is  quoted  by  Mrs.  Birney: 

"We,  the  undersigned,  love  each  other  with  all 
our  hearts,  and  we  want  to  do  all  we  can  to  make 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  59 

our  home  the  happiest  place  in  the  world.  We  will 
try  always  to  be  patient,  kind  and  thoughtful, 
and  to  do  cheerfully,  and  to  the  best  of  our  ability, 
whatever  our  part  of  the  household  work  may  be. 
We  will  try  to  close  the  doors  after  us  in  winter, 
and  not  to  bang  the  screen  doors  in  summer,  to 
remember  to  use  the  doormat  in  muddy  weather, 
to  keep  our  things  in  order,  to  put  the  hammer 
back  in  place,"  etc.,  etc. 

"On  occasions,  children  are  delighted  with  a 
certain  amount  of  form  and  ceremony,  and 
pleasure  will  invariably  be  derived  from  the  draw- 
ing up  of  the  contract,  its  impressive  reading  by 
father  or  mother,  the  discussion  of  it  with  further 
suggestions  from  the  children,  its  final  adoption 
by  a  unanimous  vote,  and  lastly,  the  affixing  of 
signatures,  even  the  four-year-old  having  his 
hand  guided,  his  name  appearing  in  big,  scrawly 
letters  which  differentiate  it  for  practical  reasons 
from  the  other  signatures. 

"Once  a  week  the  contract  should  be  read  aloud 
to  the  assembled  family;  no  one  should  ever  pub- 
licly be  accused  of  having  failed  to  live  up  to  its 
spirit,  but  it  should  be  tacitly  understood  on  such 
occasions  that  acknowledgment  and  apology 
should  be  made  for  specific  shortcomings  during 
the  week  past;  that  is,  such  shortcomings  as  af- 


60  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

fected  the  entire  or  even  greater  part  of  the  fam- 

iiy." 

Another  mother,  of  whom  Mrs.  Kate  TJpson 
Clark  tells,  appointed  each  morning  one  of  her 
children  "captain  of  the  day."  "The  captain  of 
the  day  was  helped  always  first  at  table,  the  next 
younger  was  helped  next,  and  so  on,  until  the 
circle  was  completed. "  This  captain  took  charge 
of  the  discipline  during  the  day.  "The  idea  of  his 
responsibility  is  so  fully  impressed  upon  him  that 
it  is  rarely  necessary  to  interfere  with  the  captain's 
discipline. " 

Still  another,  who  found  that  hours  of  confiden- 
tial conversation  with  her  children  always  paid, 
had  a  way  of  giving  talismans,  which  were  secrets 
between  herself  and  her  children,  to  help  them 
remember  and  to  defend  themselves  from  certain 
acknowledged  faults  or  vices. 

Some  of  the  most  successful  workers  with  boys 
have  used  this  same  idea  with  great  success. 
When  the  ethical  code  of  the  group  is  being  care- 
lessly violated  or  moral  ideals  are  endangered,  a 
timely  suggestion,  such  as  "W.  S.''  (Watch  your 
step)  brings  the  deeper  meaning  of  the  unfortu- 
nate situation  vividly  before  the  boy's  mind. 
Boys  of  early  adolescent  years,  particularly,  prefer 
this  secret  form  of  suggestion  to  a  literal,  direct 
reprimand. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  61 

With  an  adolescent  boy  or  girl  this  partnership 
of  sympathy  may  wisely  extend  progressively  to 
confidences  regarding  the  family  or  group  concerns 
and  anxieties.  "Watch  the  youth  of  fourteen," 
someone  says,  "when  his  judgment  is  asked  rela- 
tive to  some  home  arrangement;  and  if  it  is  possible 
for  you  to  agree  with  his  suggestion,  isn't  it  worth 
your  tact  and  patience  as  you  notice  the  glow  of 
ambition  and  pride  written  all  over  the  boy,  as  he 
realizes  that  he  has  actually  formed  one  of  the 
advisory  board?" 

One  of  the  greatest  values  of  all  these  plans  to~j 
make  participation  in  self-government  and  family 
government  a  conscious  and  purposive  thing,  is 
that  it  is  practice  in  democracy.  The  home  is  the 
primary  social  unit  because  it  is  a  group  of  persons 
with  the  widest  possible  disparity  of  age,  experi- 
ence, ability  and  wisdom,  united  by  an  equality 
of  affection,  a  conviction  of  each  other's  supreme 
worth.  The  problems  of  mutual  relations  surely 
have  a  motive  for  their  solution  here  if  anywhere; 
and  if  they  are  really  solved,  the  experience  will 
carry  over  into  the  larger  social  groups.  Such 
"government"  through  adolescence  will  go  a  long 
way  toward  producing  young  men  and  women 
capable  of  meeting  the  demands  of  world-democ^J 
racy. 


62  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

SOCIAL    DEVELOPMENT    THROUGH    SCHOOL    EX- 
PERIENCES 

The  social  experiences  that  are  grouped  around 
one's  school,  bring  a  wealth  of  ideas  of  social 
conduct  which  greatly  enrich  those  gleaned  from 
the  home.  The  standards  and  practices  of  many 
homes  are  reflected  in  behavior  of  class-mates  and 
school-mates.  The  groupings  do  not  reflect  the 
disparity  with  respect  to  age  which  is  found  in 
one's  family.  Mass  movements  are  readily 
started.  Notions  of  equality  and  of  slight 
superiority  grow  out  of  the  grading  system  and 
voluntary  organizations  or  activities.  Leader- 
ship based  upon  superior  knowledge  or  wider 
practical  experience  is  recognized.  A  broader  and 
more  intelligent  sympathy  with  those  who  differ 
in  matters  of  religious  belief  and  social  standing  is 
inculcated.  Social  development  through  contacts 
that  are  established  in  school  are  second  in  im- 
portance only  to  those  in  the  home. 

THE  PLAY  GROUP 

The  social  group  which,  next  to  the  family  and 
the  school,  is  apt  to  make  the  largest  contribution 
toward  the  social-mindedness  of  adolescent  young 
people  is  the  one  in  which  the  leisure-time  or  play 
activities  have  their  setting.  When  the  boys  and 
girls  move  out  beyond  the  family  circle,  they  move 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  63 

into  a  play  group.  Those  organizations  that 
provide  practical,  concrete  ideas  of  right  behavior 
in  the  form  of  a  code  of  conduct  recognized  by  all 
the  members  of  the  group,  are  of  inestimable  value. 
They  supplement  the  work  of  the  parent  or  teacher 
just  at  the  time  when  the  voice  of  authority  must 
originate  in  a  social  group,  rather  than  in  a 
superior  individual.  When  a  group  of  boys 
achieve  self-government  under  the  powerful  sug- 
gestions of  a  simple,  practical  code  of  ethics,  they 
take  long  strides  in  the  direction  of  social  efficiency 
and  moral  integrity.  While  at  play  young  people 
can  have  practice  in  applying  moral  principles  to 
particular  problems.  They  learn  to  face  new 
situations  in  a  way  that  is  consistent  with  the 
moral  habits  built  up  during  childhood. 

Character  has  been  defined  as  the  sum  of  our 
choices.  The  young  person  who  has  not  only 
done  the  right  because  he  has  been  obliged 
to,  but  also  for  some  years,  has  consistently  chosen 
to  do  the  right  in  different  types  of  social  en- 
vironment, is  in  a  position  not  to  be  overwhelmed 
by  the  new  consciousness  and  powers  that  are  now 
his. 

CHURCH  SCHOOL  LOYALTY 

An  unfortunate  situation  occurs  when  a  boy's 
loyalty  to  home,  public  school,  or  play  group  in- 


64  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

terferes  with  the  development  of  his  loyalty  to  his 
Sunday  school  class  or  to  the  school  as  a  whole. 
The  adult  supervisor  of  play  or  director  of  leisure- 
time  activities  who  is  not  in  hearty  sympathy  with 
the  program  of  the  church  school  possesses  power 
to  injure  the  social  development  of  adolescent 
young  people  in  direct  proportion  to  his  popularity. 
Enthusiastic  loyalty  to  a  social  group  within  a 
church  easily  develops  into  personal  appreciation 
of  the  religion  for  which  it  stands.  No  local 
church  that  does  not  provide  for  the  social  develop- 
ment of  its  pupils  in  the  Intermediate,  Senior,  and 
Young  Peoples'  departments  need  expect  them 
to  take  seriously  the  formal  religious  instruction 
which  it  provides.  Every  organized  class  should 
be  a  vigorous  social  entity.  Loyalty  to  it  should 
not  have  to  be  compromised  when,  between 
Sundays,  play  considerations  are  uppermost.  It 
is  the  duty  of  every  teacher  and  supervisor  of 
leisure-time  activities  to  help  develop  a  splendid 
esprit  de  corps  in  the  church  school  and  to  guard, 
carefully,  the  adolescent's  appreciation  of  member- 
ship therein. 

COMMUNITY  LOYALTY 

Before  middle  adolescence  is  reached,  commu- 
nity consciousness  is  revealed  in  the  interests  and 
conduct  of  boys  and  girls.  The  fact  that  they 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  65 

know  the  community  first  of  all  as  the  place 
where  home,  school,  play  group,  and  church  are 
located  helps  to  make  an  awakening  community 
loyalty  intelligent.  Familiarity  with  community 
civics  and  the  practical  problems  of  community 
welfare  give  proper  direction  to  social  develop- 
ment during  these  years.  The  instructive  im- 
pulse to  be  of  service  now  finds  natural  expression 
in  those  activities  that  prepare  the  youth  for  the 
civic  and  political  responsibilities  which  will  be 
his  when  he  becomes  of  age.  He  shares  the  honor  V 
or  disgrace  of  the  reputation  of  his  home  city,  the 
streets,  houses,  parks  and  play  grounds,  public 
buildings,  health,  fire  protection,  and  industrial 
foundation,  all  awaken  individual  interest. 

SOCIAL  INSTINCTS 

Both  self-assertiveness  and  rebellion  would  be 
impossible  to  the  ordinary  youth  if  he  had  to  do  it 
alone.  "The  one  way,"  says  Munroe,  "in  which 
he  can  bolster  up  his  courage  is  to  lean  upon  other 
boys  like  himself."  Hence  the  arising  of  the 
"  gang  "  and  the  strengthening  through  this  mutual 
support  of  whatever  good  and  also  whatever  evil 
tendencies  each  of  the  individuals  may  have.  His 
blind  following  of  the  gang  is  re-enforced  because 
of  his  eager  hero-worship,  and  the  leader  of  the 
gang  is  frequently  his  hero. 


66  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

It  is  a  peculiarity  of  this  period  that  the  youth 
when  planning  an  action  thinks  not  only  of  some- 
thing to  be  done,  but  also  of  another  person  as 
witnessing  the  achievement.  His  pleasure  is  not 
only  in  the  act  itself  but  also  in  the  thought  of 
how  it  will  be  viewed  by  others  or  by  one  particu- 
lar person.  This  immensely  limits  the  field  of 
"things  that  the  fellers  do"  and  at  the  same  time 
gives  an  unnatural  glamour  to  efforts  in  particular 
directions. 

Perhaps  another  reason  for  the  clandestine 
escapades  of  some  girls  is  the  girl's  tendency  to  be 
dominated  by  the  approval  of  one  person  at  a 
time,  rather  than  by  a  larger  circle.  The  escape 
from  the  window  is  achieved  by  the  help  of  the 
chum  or  the  boy,  though  she  may  later  join  "the 
crowd."  Her  social  heritage  tends  to  make  her 
interpret  loyalty  as  clinging  to  one  against  the 
whole  world.  Here  is  where  the  right  sort  of  woman 
can  have  so  immeasurable  an  influence  as  her 
heroine  or  "adoree." 

THE  FRIENDSHIP  INSTINCT 

In  the  middle  and  later  adolescent  years, 
especially,  the  social  instinct,  let  us  call  it  the 
friendship  instinct,  takes  the  special  form  of  in- 
terest in  the  other  sex.  As  girls  mature  physically 
a  little  earlier  than  boys,  they  manifest  this  in- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  67 

stinct  sooner  and  with  a  frankness  that  is  some- 
times alarming  to  their  parents.  Prepared  as  they 
may  be  by  reminiscence  for  the  fact  that  this  in- 
stinct is  sure  to  come,  they  have  forgotten  that 
with  some  girls  as  young  as  thirteen,  the  subject 
of  boys  is  the  all-absorbing  topic  of  conver- 
sation and  even  of  thought.  The  interest  is 
innocent  and  ignorant  and  is  often  as  much  a 
form  of  early  feminine  jealousy  of  the  other  girls 
as  it  is  of  genuine  interest  in  any  individual  lad. 
The  maladies  of  silliness  and  of  "giggles"  develop 
from  a  combination  of  sex-interest,  unstable  nerv- 
ous equilibrium,  and  a  self-consciousness  fostered 
by  the  foolish  and  jesting  attitude  of  adults. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  adult  leaders,  whether  of  | 
adolescent  boys  or  girls  must  be  familiar  with  the  ! 
whole  problem  of  adolescence.  A  play  program 
that  is  founded  upon  complete  sex  segregation  is 
false  in  theory  and  positively  harmful  in  practice. 
As  one  homely  philosopher  put  it:  "The  Lord 
probably  knew  what  He  was  about  when  He  per- 
mitted both  boys  and  girls  to  belong  to  the  same 
family. "  During  early  adolescence,  sex  conscious- 
ness is  permeated  with  group  loyalty.  Therefore, 
groups  of  boys  should  play  with  groups  of  girls. 
Both  boys  and  girls  put  their  whole  selves  into 
play.  At  such  times  they  are  wholesomely  self- 
expressive.  Knowledge  of  the  opposite  sex  gained 


68  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

on  these  occasions  is  the  best  and  most  natural  step 
toward  the  friendships  of  later  years. 

MORAL  AWAKENING 

The  keenness  of  interest  which  the  youth  shows 
in  physical  and  mental  achievements  is  also  seen 
in  his  relation  to  moral  standards.  The  moral  life 
of  an  adolescent  is  at  first  largely  one  of  habit, 
impulse,  and  feeling.  Later  it  is  one  in  which 
thoughtfulness  becomes  dominant.  Normally  both 
feeling  and  reason  should  become  related  to 
each  other  and  to  the  whole  of  the  growing  ex- 
perience through  activity. 

It  is  especially  during  the  era  of  middle 
adolescent  feeling  that  the  growing  boy  or  girl 
rises  to  heights  of  moral  ecstasy.  These,  too, 
come  on  in  rhythms,  with  lulls  between.  These 
"  between  "  seasons  are  the  opportunity  for  doing, 
and  for  working  moral  insight  into  moral  fiber 
through  the  medium  of  reality.  It  is  due  to  the 
neglect  of  providing  means  of  expression  that 
the  later  adolescent  thoughtfulness  struggles  so 
often  with  a  sense  of  unreality,  and  finds  it  so 
difficult  to  bridge  the  gaps  between  the  earlier 
forms  of  belief  and  the  new  data  of  maturity. 
Moral  awakening  has  its  best  setting  in  the 
period  of  the  most  rapid  social  development. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  69 

SOCIAL  MANAGEMENT 

In  the  social  life  of  the  youth,  we  meet  a  varied 
and  complex  problem.  At  one  moment  we  find  it 
feasible  to  make  use  of  emulation  and  stimulate 
him  to  imitate  his  hero.  Again  we  crave  the  op- 
portunity for  him  to  be  by  himself  so  that  he  may 
learn*  to  stand  upon  his  own  feet  and  think  out  his 
own  thoughts.  We  often  find  it  necessary  to  get 
the  gang  on  our  side  and  to  chaperon  its  activities 
so  that  they  may  be  harmless.  Having  won  its 
confidence,  the  gang  is  potentially  one  of  the  best 
friends  of  parents  and  teachers  in  the  training  of 
early  and  middle  adolescent  boys.  It  is  the  part  of 
wisdom  to  work  with  the  gang  and  not  against  it. 
The  youth  may  be  allowed  an  almost  uninter- 
rupted relationship  with  his  group  if  the  leading 
spirit  of  the  group  is  morally  sound  and  if  that 
relationship  is  conducted  under  wholesome  condi- 
tions. 

This  fact  especially  emphasizes  the  necessity  of 
the  young  person's  having  a  room  of  his  own. 
"He  needs  it,"  says  Kirtley,  "in  his  business  of 
being  a  boy.  If  he  does  not  get  it  at  home  he 
always  wants  to  establish  headquarters  somewhere 
else — on  the  street  corner,  or  a  vacant  lot,  or  in 
another  boy's  home.  This  always  lessens  his 
attachment  for  his  own  home.  His  self-respect 


70  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

and  social  standing  require  that  he  have  a  place 
where  he  can  bring  his  friends;  if  he  brings  them  to 
his  own  home,  they  will  be  in  a  respectable  place 
and  not  be  as  apt  to  get  into  trouble.  He  will  be 
proud  to  have  his  parents  become  honorary  or 
sustaining  members  of  the  club.  Such  a  relation- 
ship gives  those  parents  a  chance  to  take  the  sting 
out  of  all  mischief  and  renew  the  joys  of  long  ago. 
His  room  is  a  social  center,  training  him  for  life. " 

We  believe  there  is  scarcely  a  home  where  this  is 
not  possible.  Since  so  many  of  the  gang's  activi- 
ties are  naturally  in  the  evening,  a  basement  may 
be  used,  where  there  is  no  attic,  and  there  are 
fascinating  possibilities  in  sheds  and  "shacks" 
in  backyards. 

A  free  center  of  hospitality  is  just  as  essential  for 
the  girl.  While  she  may  not  set  up  such  a  center 
in  a  vacant  lot,  like  her  brother,  if  deprived  of  a 
headquarters,  she  will  miss  from  her  development 
an  element  that  should  enter  now  when  the  in- 
stinct is  at  its  keenest.  Besides,  a  room  alone 
gives  opportunity  for  the  expression  of  many 
artistic  and  decorative  phases  without  such  violent 
re-adjustment  of  the  rest  of  the  house  furnishing, 
or  such  evident  lack  of  appreciation  on  the  part  of 
the  family.  Many  a  parent  would  be  surprised  at 
the  strength  and  tenacity  of  the  feeling  of  resent- 
ment or  disappointment  in  the  heart  of  a  docile 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  71 

daughter,  because  her  friends  and  her  ideas  were 
so  seldom  "convenient." 

Parents  are  sometimes  concerned  because  their 
children  at  this  period  become  completely  fasci- 
nated with  some  other  person,  frequently  of  the 
same  sex,  so  that  the  acts,  thoughts  and  feelings 
of  the  admired  individual  are  of  more  interest  than 
anything  else  in  the  world.  But,  as  Kirkpatrick 
reminds  us,  this  is  at  least  better  than  extreme  self- 
absorption.  If  the  person  be  strong  and  well- 
rounded,  nothing  but  good  can  result.  And  if  the 
parent  has  reason  to  believe  that  the  person  is  not 
strong  and  good,  the  case  is  by  no  means  hopeless. 
A  good  general  rule  is  that  the  parent  should  crave 
to  know  personally  and  in  the  home,  though  un- 
obstrusively,  everyone  whom  his  children  like. 
In  the  home-circle  the  unwholesome  acquaintance 
loses  much  of  his  glamor;  brought  into  competition 
there  with  unusually  fine  young  persons,  invitedA 
there  for  the  purpose,  he  may  lose  it  all. 

"FIRST  LOVES" 

The  proper  attitude  to  take  toward  first  loves 
is  that  of  complete  candor.  Nothing  could  be 
more  foolish  than  to  joke  a  child  about  his  fancy, 
because  that  is  the  surest  way  to  make  him  secre- 
tive and  to  encourage  him  to  continue  his  passion 
away  from  home.  Invite  the  loved  one  to  your 


72  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

own  home,  not  of  course  in  any  other  guise  than 
that  of  a  school-room  friend,  and  observe  her  well 
but  kindly.  Keep  the  acquaintance  open  and 
above-board.  Try  to  know  her  folks,  and  get 
them  to  work  with  you  in  a  mutual  program. 

So  with  the  young  girl  in  her  first  boy  -craze. 
Just  as  naturally  as  you  would  ask  the  girl  friends, 
invite  the  boy  to  stay  to  supper  for  some  special 
treat,  suggest  that  he  bring  his  fish  for  a  "shore 
dinner"  in  the  back  yard,  or  plan  a  candy-pull. 

Precocious  ideas  grow  by  attention,  whether  in 
antagonism  or  in  jesting.  The  best  way  to  mini- 
mize over-consciousness  of  sex  interests  is  by 
magnifying  common  human  interests.  As  the  girl 
grows  older  and  wishes  to  entertain  in  a  more 
formal  and  grown-up  way,  she  will  usually  enter 
eagerly  into  plans  for  practicing  how  to  be  a  gra- 
cious and  pleasing  hostess  to  many  different  kinds 
of  young  men.  Friendships  thus  guarded  may 
prove  of  life-long  worth,  or  they  may  die  a  nat- 
ural but  innocent  death.  They  cannot  be  hurtful 
"If  we  try  our  best  to  make  the  best  of  it,  we  take 
the  worst  out  of  the  very  worst  of  it. " 

With  boys,  first  love  is  chivalrous  and  unselfish 
but  equally  blinding  to  any  other  object.  Such 
pre-occupation  constitutes  one  of  the  most  diffi- 
cult problems  of  the  middle  and  later  adolescent 
period.  It  is  no  doubt  the  fascinations  of  the 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  73 

gang  and  the  delight  of  first  love  that  partly  ex- 
plain the  disregard  of  the  home-folks  that  so  many 
young  people  manifest. 

CO-OPERATION 

Now,  more  than  ever  before,  parents  must  share 
the  guidance  of  their  children  with  others.  Young 
people  at  this  time  are  profoundly  influenced  by 
the  spirit  of  the  gang.  The  influence  of  a  particu- 
lar chum  may  be  even  more  powerful  than  that  of  a 
parent.  It  is  necessary  also  to  consider  the  in- 
fluence of  the  different  ideas  of  parental  control 
and  personal  privilege  shared  by  the  other  homes 
of  the  neighborhood,  and  also  the  general  senti- 
ment of  the  community  as  to  what  is  proper  for 
young  people  to  do.  Says  Mrs.  Ford,  "If  all  the 
mothers  of  a  certain  set  of  society  were  agreed  on 
certain  standards,  it  would  be  easier  for  the  individ- 
ual mother  to  hold  strongly  to  the  ideal  of  conduct 
or  attitude,  whatever  it  may  be.  Why  can't  you 
strengthen  the  backbone  of  the  mothers  of  the 
community?  Thoughtless  mothers  make  things 
hard  for  the  rest,  and  I  believe  that  the  thoughtful 
mother  who  gives  herself  to  the  work  of  a  good 
sensible  mothers'  club  is  thereby  saving  time  and 
work  and  perplexity  for  herself. " 

Co-operation  among  parents  is  no  more  impor- 
tant than  is  co-operation  between  parents  and  those 


74  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

adult  leaders  who  outside  of  the  family  are  direct- 
ing the  intellectual,  religious,  physical  and  social 
development  of  these  young  people.  In  multi- 
tude of  instances,  these  volunteer  workers  are  tak- 
ing up  this  important  task  just  at  the  time  when 
the  parent  is  unable  to  carry  it  forward.  The 
same  standards  should  obtain  within  the  homes, 
the  church  and  the  school,  so  that  young  people  of 
given  community  will  be  impressed  with  the 
consistency  of  the  moral  law.  All  of  the  plans  for 
.eisure-time  occupations  being  worked  out  in  these 
three  institutions  should  be  tested  by  the  require- 
ments of  citizenship  in  a  Christian  democracy. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  CLASS  STUDY 

1 .  At  what  age  will  a  child  naturally  have  secrets 
that  are  kept  back  from  his  parents,  though  shared 
with  others? 

2.  How  can  the  home  provide  young  people  with 
practice  in  self-government? 

3.  Of  what  value  to  young  people  are  friend- 
ships? 

4.  What  is  gained  through  membership  in  a 
gang? 

5.  Is  an  adolescent  young  person  ever  justified 
in  going  contrary  to  the  expressed  judgment  and 
wish  of  parents?     Give  reasons  for  your  answer. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  75 

6.  Why  should  every  program  of  training  adoles- 
cents morally,  emphasize  activity? 

7.  Why  should  loyalty   to  home,  school  and 
church  precede  loyalty  to  community  ? 

8.  Of  what  value  is  school  loyalty?     Loyalty  to 
one's  community? 

9.  How  are  the  social  instincts  expressed  during 
middle  and  latter  adolescence? 

10.  Why  should  adolescent  young  people  have 
their  own  social  headquarters? 

11.  What  attitude  should  be  taken  toward  first 
loves? 

12.  What  forms  of  co-operation  among  adult 
leaders  are  possible  in  the  interest  of  the  social 
development  of  adolescents? 


CHAPTER  V 

RELIGION  AS  A  MODE  OF  CONTROL  IN 
ADOLESCENT  CONDUCT 

RELIGION  AS  A  "COMPLEX" 

(See  note  at  end  of  this  chapter) 

Why  do  so  many  young  people,  thirteen,  four- 
teen and  fifteen  years  old,  leave  off  going  to  Sun- 
day school?  At  this  age  they  are  naturally  more 
interested  in  religion  than  during  the  three  preced- 
ing years.  Religion  is,  or  should  be  a  matter  of 
spontaneous  and  vital  concern  during  the  entire 
adolescent  period. 

The  first  answer  to  this  question  is  found  in  the 
fact  that  adolescent  young  people  are  interested, 
primarily,  in  using  religion  rather  than  in  studying 
it.  If  they  study  it,  the  strongest  motive  for 
study  is  the  desire  to  make  personal  use  of  it. 
The  teacher  of  religion  whose  aim  is  merely  to 
help  them  to  pile  up  more  and  yet  more  informa- 
tion about  the  Bible,  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  the 
Church — information  that  is  not  especially  in- 
tended for  use — need  not  be  surprised  if  they  lose 
interest  and  disappear. 

In  order  to  remain  steadfast  in  their  religious 
life  these  young  folks  must  continue  to  build  up  a 
definite  system  of  organized  religious  ideas  which 
76 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  77 

is  permeated  with  strong  religious  emotions  and 
which  produces  actions  of  a  definite  religious 
character.  Such  a  system  is  called  by  psycholo- 
gists a  potential  "religious  complex." 

If  the  religious  instruction  previously  given  has 
not  been  systematic  or  well  organized,  it  is  difficult 
for  a  young  person  to  become  definitely  and 
wholly  religious.  The  religious  ideas  of  persons 
who  are  indifferent  to  religion  are  usually  dis- 
organized and  scattered.  It  is  difficult  for  them 
to  increase  in  religious  wisdom  because  of  mental 
confusion  on  this  subject. 

But  it  is  also  vitally  important  to  have  this 
definite  system  of  ideas  permeated  with  strong 
emotions.  Religious  emotions,  however,  cannot 
be  built  up  except  through  actual,  first-hand 
religious  experience.  The  religious  nurture  of 
adolescent  young  people  involves  practice  in 
prayer,  in  worship,  in  oral  witnessing,  and  in 
service  supported  by  religious  motives.  Unless 
this  actual  practice  in  religion  takes  place,  the 
emotional  elements  will  be  weak  and  the  potential 
religious  complex  will  fail  to  have  sufficient 
strength  to  be  a  controlling  factor  in  conduct. 

The  adolescent's  interest  in  religion  is  limited 
largely  by  the  sense  of  value  which  grows  out  of 
this  system  of  organized  ideas,  emotions  and  im- 
pulses. He  is  the  conscious  possessor  of  a  religious 


78  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

system  which  he  recognizes  as  his  own.  Unless 
he  feels  it  to  be  a  vital  part  of  his  life,  something  of 
which  he  is  not  ashamed,  something  that  brings 
satisfaction  through  use,  indifference  is  sure  to 
result. 

CONTROL  FROM  WITHOUT  AND  FROM  WITHIN 

For  him  to  become  habitually  adjusted  to  the 
moral  law,  as  interpreted  by  those  who  have 
charge  of  his  We,  is  the  child's  great  moral  achieve- 
ment during  the  years  preceding  adolescence. 
But  during  the  years  twelve  to  twenty-four,  the 
problem  is  to  make  the  voice  of  habit  the  voice  of 
a  conscience  that  is  consistently  obeyed.  Respon- 
sibility for  the  appreciation  and  interpretation  of 
the  moral  law  now  rests  upon  young  people  them- 
selves. 

It  is  because  religion  is  the  highest,  the  most 
sacred  element  within  one's  own  life  that  it  should 
decide  what  are  to  be  the  standards  of  one's  con- 
duct. Before  adolescence,  young  people  have 
little  experience  in  moral  self -direction.  They 
get  permission  of  parents  or  teacher  to  do  that 
which  is  not  covered  by  some  former  consent  or 
approval  or  concerning  which  they  are  in  doubt. 
To  disobey  their  elders  is  to  do  what  is  wrong. 
To  obey  them  is  to  do  what  is  right.  The  element 
that  is  most  sacred  is  without  rather  than  within. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  79 

But  this  moral  dependence  is  outgrown  after 
the  first  dozen  years.  Adolescents  feel  free  to 
express  their  own  opinions  of  what  is  right  or 
wrong  conduct  and  to  go  ahead  on  the  basis  of 
those  opinions.  They  take  up  the  responsibility 
for  their  own  behavior.  Being  thus  consciously 
amenable  to  themselves,  they  naturally  try  to 
find  within  themselves  something  that  they  can 
tie  up  to.  Religion  is  or  should  be  this  something. 
They  should  recognize  the  supremacy  of  their 
religious  interests  over  all  others. 

WHAT  is  ADOLESCENT  RELIGION? 

Religion  is  simply  one's  whole  bearing  toward 
that  which  is  held  to  have  highest  value.  It  is 
one's  deference  to  (or  rebellion  against)  whatever 
is  felt  to  be  of  supreme  worth.  We  worship  the 
objects  or  persons  that  we  feel  to  be  most  im- 
pressive and  sacred. 

The  adolescent  mind  naturally  moves  out  to- 
ward the  ideal— toward  whatever  seems  to  be 
most  powerful,  most  beautiful,  most  worthy  of 
confidence,  most  majestic,  most  effective  in  caus- 
ing things  to  happen.  When  it  finds  this  ulti^ 
mately  real  person,  it  feels  a  sense  of  obligation  to 
him.  The  differences  between  self  and  the  ideal 
are  readily  felt,  especially  by  adolescent  young 
people.  To  try  to  realize  the  ideal  is  a  universal 


80  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

adolescent  endeavor.  That  is,  religion  is  now  na- 
tural. 

Boys  and  girls  of  this  age  who  are  irreligious  are 
unnatural  and  uncomfortable.  They  sense  the 
fact  that  something  is  wrong.  A  young  person 
endeavoring  to  conceal  the  fact  of  a  life  lived  in 
defiance  of  the  God  of  his  childhood  may  try  to 
appear  comfortable  and  happy,  but  in  doing  so 
he  is  insincere  and  more  or  less  dissatisfied  with 
his  own  pretenses. 

Conduct  that  is  brought  into  harmony  with 
one's  conception  of  what  is  of  greatest  value,  there- 
by becomes  religious.  It  is  thus  that  religion 
permeates  all  life  and  gives  "tone"  to  it.  Reli- 
gion affects  every  thought,  impulse  and  desire. 
A  person  who  is  religious  thinks  certain  kinds  of 
thoughts,  has  characteristic  desires.  He  conducts 
himself  in  a  particular  way — as  though  he  cared 
about  God. 

There  are  three  distinct  ways  in  which  adoles- 
cent young  people  adjust  themselves  and  their 
conduct  to  that  which  awakens  in  them  this  high- 
est sense  of  value.  One  is  through  obedience; 
another  is  through  personal  appreciation;  and  the 
third  is  through  belief.  There  are  three  outstand- 
ing types  of  experiences  that  are  seen  in  the  reli- 
gious unfolding  of  adolescent  life.  One  is  domi- 
nantly  volitional;  another  is  emotional;  and  the 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  81 

third  is  intellectual.  At  the  dawn  of  early  adoles- 
cence, the  child  is  supremely  interested  in  doing 
religious  things.  At  sixteen,  religious  experiences 
affect  his  emotions,  particularly.  At  nineteen, 
or  later,  his  religious  interest  centers  in  beliefs, 
doctrines,  theology,  creeds. 

EARLY  ADOLESCENT  RELIGION 

Usually,  in  the  twelfth  year,  an  outstanding 
type  of  religious  experience  occurs.  Its  most 
marked  characteristic  is  voluntary  and  implicit 
obedience.  The  whole  religious  life  is  now  as- 
sembled or  organized  around  the  doing  of  things 
that  have  the  approval  of  the  highest  authority. 
This  child  does  what  he  thinks  the  one  highest  in 
authority  wants  him  to  do.  A  whole-hearted 
decision  to  recognize  the  lordship  of  Him  who  has 
the  greatest  inherent  right  to  rule  over  the  life 
marks  the  culminating  point  in  this  twelve-year- 
old  religious  experience. 

This  supreme  decision  brings  highest  satisfac- 
tion. The  mind  is  no  longer  annoyed  by  two  or 
more  conflicting  influences  that  attempt  to  rule  in 
conduct.  This  kind  of  behavior  reveals  consist- 
ency and  sincerity.  There  is  now  response  to  but 
one  voice.  Conduct  is  morally  sound. 

Religious  conduct  during  early  adolescence 
is  expressive  and  expansive.  Impulses  are  both 
strong  and  numerous.  There  is  also  muscular 

7 


82  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

vigor.  Normally,  the  mind  is  turned  outward, 
away  from  itself  and  is  interested  in  things  to  be 
seen  and  heard,  good  turns  that  need  to  be  done. 
There  is  more  conduct  to  be  controlled  than  ever 
before.  The  stream  of  life  is  flowing  more  swiftly. 
It  has  greater  volume  also.  Children  of  this  age 
find  joy  in  taking  the  initiative.  They  appreciate 
being  in  the  midst  of  things  that  are  "doing."  They 
are  highly  suggestible,  provided  that  the  sugges- 
tion originates  in  a  plane  of  conduct  or  experience 
which  they  recognize  to  be  higher  than  their  own. 
When  this  highest  standard  of  what  is  right  or  of 
greatest  value  is  enthroned  within  their  own  lives, 
its  place  therein  recognized  as  supreme  and  au- 
thoritative, conduct  becomes  truly  religious.  Re- 
ligion has  become  the  mode  of  control  in  their 
conduct. 

The  years  thirteen  and  fourteen  are  normally 
spent  in  putting  this  mode  of  control  into  practice. 
The  supreme  decision  that  normally  comes  at  the 
twelfth  year,  has  to  be  put  into  operation  again 
and  again — until  it  becomes  throughly  established 
or  automatic.  Self-will  gradually  becomes  trans- 
formed into  the  supremely  good-will. 

During  this  time,  attention  must  be  directed, 
frequently,  to  the  highest  type  of  conduct  as  seen 
in  the  lives  of  heroes  and  in  the  absolutely  perfect 
life  of  the  Master.  With  this  ideal  in  mind,  ado- 
lescent young  people  become  personally  religious 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  83 

through  religious  conduct.  That  which  was  exter- 
nal becomes  internal.  Standards  become  one's 
own.  Moral  and  religious  suggestions  like  those 
that  originated  in  the  Hero  now  begin  to  spring  up 
from  within.  Choices  are  made  in  accordance 
with  them.  That  which  was  received  is  now  given 
back  in  a  spontaneous  way.  (  Conscious  effort  to 
be  good  or  to  do  what  is  right  gradually  disap- 
pears. The  outside  supports,  so  necessary  in 
childhood,  are  no  longer  needed.  Religion  has  be- 
come one's  own.  The  ship  that  was  held  in  place 
by  "ways,"  "shores,"  "blocks"  and  other  scaf- 
folding in  the  yard  is  now  launched  and  maintains 
its  own  balance. 

One  of  the  practical  dangers  during  this  inter- 
mediate or  transition  period  is  that  of  a  growing 
lack  of  appreciation  of  those  parents  and  teachers 
whose  guidance  and  interpretations  have  led  to 
this  personal  appreciation  of  the  highest  good. 
Young  people  of  this  age  are  idealists  without  much 
practical  experience.  They  are  apt  to  pick  out 
the  faults  and  weaknesses  in  the  conduct  of  others 
and  over-estimate  their  significance.  The  average 
fourteen-year-old  begins  to  be  an  iconoclast.  His 
opinions  are  formed  hastily.  He  is  ruthless  in  his 
criticisms.  There  is  little  patience  for  the  gather- 
ing up  of  all  the  evidence  before  a  final  judgment 
is  reached.  This  spirit  often  gives  rise  to  the  use 
of  such  expressions  as  "the  old  man"  instead  of 


84  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  •• 

^N 

"father."  A  few  years  later,  this  critical  non- 
chivalrous  attitude  toward  persons,  if  permitted 
to  develop  may  become  the  permanent  attitude 
toward  churches  and  other  institutions. 

The  restraining  influence  of  the  religious  ideal 
to  which  this  youth  has  decided  to  become  obe- 
dient must  be  quantitative  as  well  as  qualitative. 
The  natural  volume  of  impulses  and  activities, 
the  abundance  of  interests  and  desires  must  not 
be  interfered  with.  Religion  must  now  provide 
for  the  opportunity  of  vigorous  expansion  in  life. 
An  early  adolescent  youth  can  be  impulsive,  vigor- 
ously active,  adventuresome — he  can  enjoy  fun, 
abhor  dull  routine,  flee  from  the  commonplace, 
and  keep  his  most  cherished  secrets  from  his  par- 
ents— all  without  breaking  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. 

The  religious  ideal  and  the  moral  law  which  it 
sanctions  must  not  stand  in  the  way  of  his  living 
an  abundant  life.  If  a  new  shoe  is  causing  a 
blister,  the  thing  to  do  is  not  to  keep  off  one's  feet 
and  to  lie  in  bed,  but  to  get  a  more  comfortable 
pair  of  shoes.  Religion  and  religious  institutions 
were  made  for  life,  and  not  life  for  religion.  Early 
adolescent  religious  life  is  not  less  active,  adven- 
turesome, impulsive.  It  is  expressive  in  a  new 
and  better  way.  The  truly  Christian  conscience 
is  not  destructive  and  unnatural.  It  is  superna- 
tural, even  autocratic,  yet  sympathetic  and  kind. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  85 

MIDDLE  ADOLESCENT  RELIGION 

The  early  adolescent  barely  brings  himself  into 
habitual  subjection  to  this  higher  will  and  law 
when  he  discovers  that  it  is  a  new  self  with  which 
he  is  dealing.  There  is  now  a  still  further  expan- 
sion of  life.  A  reaffirmation  of  loyalty  is  required, 
social  interests  are  now  intensifying.  Friend- 
ships may  or  may  not  suggest  compromise  with 
one's  former  ideals.  "To  thine  own  self  be  true" 
is  the  great  challenge  of  religion  to  middle  adoles- 
cence. To  keep  God  at  the  center  of  life  and  to 
go  on  making  friends,  following  out  vocational 
interests,  accepting  membership  in  various  or- 
ganizations, appreciating  the  aesthetic  and  letting 
altruistic  motives  find  abundant  expression  is 
the  supreme  achievement  during  these  years. 

If  a  standard  of  value  other  than  the  highest  or 
an  ideal  other  than  the  loftiest  has  temporarily 
gained  supremacy  or  has  become  an  equally  force- 
ful factor  in  controlling  conduct,  social  and  reli- 
gious salvation  can  be  found  only  through  con- 
version. Any  attempt  to  serve  two  mutually 
antagonistic  ideals— two  hostile  masters — is  fatal. 
Dual  morality  is  damnation.  "Is  thine  eye 
single?"  "Doest  thou  love  the  Lord  thy  God 
with  thy  whole  heart?"  " Simon ' Peter,  lovest 
thou  Me?"  These  are  the  questions  which  reli- 
gion asks  of  the  sixteen-year-old  youth.  "  Blessed 


86  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

are  they  pure  in  heart."  Moral  adulteration  is 
now  the  most  dangerous  of  all  temptations.  No 
secret  social  alliance  must  be  permitted  to  under- 
mine one's  religion. 

A  vital  part  of  the  problem  of  experimental  re- 
ligion is  now  that  of  whole-hearted,  warm-hearted 
obedience  to  the  moral  law  and  to  the  supreme 
loyalties  already  established  within  one's,  own  heart 
and  mind.  It  is  continued  loyalty  to  the  highest 
loyalties  brought  over  from  the  preceding  years. 
(Consciousness  of  sin  should  quickly  follow  any 
violation  of  conscience.  Repentance  and  restored 
allegiance  is  the  only  road  that  leads  toward  tran- 
quility  of  mind  and  soundness  of  character?) 

This  period  is  often  called  the  time  of  storm 
and  stress.  The  reason  is  nolfr  difficult  to  discover. 
Religion  is  intensely  personal.  Varieties  of  stand- 
ards are  discovered  in  individuals  who  exert  a 
strong  personal  influence.  Motives  other  than 
those  that  are  religious  may  seem  to  be  adequate 
supports  of  good  conduct  in  others'  lives.  Spirit- 
ual compromise  may  seem  to  be  the  price  of  friend- 
ship or  of  vocational  success  «^  The  ethical  code 
reflected  in  the  by-laws  of  a  fraternity,  member- 
ship in  which  seems  to  be  a  social  necessity,  may 
conflict  with  one's  own  standards,  built  up  through 
a  series  of  former  experiences. 

It  is  also  a  time  when  the  imagination  readily 
pictures  a  lofty  ideal  and  sees  self  in  relation  to 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  87 

that  ideal.  Self  is  constantly  being  measured  or 
tested  by  that  which  is  heroic  or  sublime.  Lofty 
conceptions  of  right  conduct  are  "tried  on"  like 
new  suits  of  clothes.  Ideals  exert  a  powerful  in- 
fluence but  the  ability  to  reach  them  seems,  at 
times,  to  be  utterly  lacking.  Thus  the  mind  is 
drawn  toward  both  the  ideal  and  the  practical, 
the  perfect  and  the  personal  at  the  same  time. 
And  all  this  takes  place  at  a  time  when  sensitive 
personal  relations  to  a  complex  social  and  intellec- 
tual environment  are  being  maintained. 

SOCIAL  ASPECTS  OF  MIDDLE  ADOLESCENT 
RELIGION 

Religious  sentiments  are  now  very  closely  in- 
tertwined with  those  that  are  social.  Life  is  be- 
coming less  individualistic  and  self -centered.  A 
middle  adolescent  young  person  readily  appreciates 
those  who  have  personal  qualities  which  he  him- 
self would  gladly  possess  or  which  others  possess 
as  a  result  of  his  own  efforts. 

A  parent,  teacher  or  pastor  who  ignores  this 
instinctive  desire  for  social  experience,  this  de- 
light in  various  forms  of  social  service,  and  interest 
in  social  institutions  or  co-operative  endeavor  will 
thereby  put  himself  out  of  sympathetic  touch 
with  young  folks  of  middle  adolescent  age.  The 
practical  problems  of  management  will  so  increase 
that  failure  will  be  inevitable.  (  There  is  no  au- 


88  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

thority,  even  of  religion,  that  can  take  the  place 
of  social  influence.  These  young  people  simply  will 
not  be  forced  into  what  another  arbitrarily  holds 
to  be  right  conduct  for  them  and  which  they  can- 
not appreciate.  If  they  must,  they  wont. 

Personal  influence  and  example  will  succeed 
where  autocracy  and  arbitrariness  fail.  The  in- 
fluences that  are  most  effective  in  causing  them 
to  live  religious  lives  arise  in  a  social  atmosphere 
created  or  maintained  by  religious  persons  who 
have  large  capacity  for  human  sympathy  and  kind- 
ness and  who  appreciate  the  intensity  of  these 
social  sentiments. 

Directing  various  kinds  of  social  service  activi- 
ties that  are  supported  by  religious  motives, 
therefore,  is  an  effective  way  of  training  middle 
adolescent  young  people  in  religion.  If  religious 
ideals  are  maintained  and  find  expression  in  such 
forms  of  service  as  giving  material  relief  in  cases 
of  absolute  poverty,  providing  elevating  types  of 
recreation,  awakening  interest  in  self-improve- 
ment, caring  for  children  or  other  dependents,  and 
various  forms  of  civic  or  community  betterment, 
these  ideals  tend  to  become  permanent  and  con- 
trolling factors  in  conduct. 

If  these  young  people  never  know  the  joy  of  such 
experiences,  they  cannot  enter  fully  into  their  re- 
ligious inheritance.  Their  religion  must  have  a 
human  tang  and  their  social  relationships  must 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  89^ 

have  a  religious  tang.  Religion  is  weakened  and 
restricted  by  the  absence  of  social  imagination. 
Likewise,  by  that  social  superficiality  that  often 
results  when  social  experiences  are  excessively  nu- 
merous, too  complex  and  too  highly  varied.  Re- 
ligion is  the  natural  bond  of  the  noblest  and  most 
enduring  friendships.  A  truly  Christian  motive  in 
rendering  service  —  not  pity,  merely,  but  genuine 
appreciation  and  love  —  often  leads  young  people 
out  into  religious  experiences  which  would  other- 
wise be  unknown  to  them.  Love  of  God  and  love 
of  fellow  man  are  jointly  meaningful  during  these 


If  social  service  is  to  result  in  the  purification 
and  strengthening  of  the  religious  life  it  should  be 
practical;  suited  to  the  temperament,  capacities 
and  resources  of  the  one  who  is  to  render  it;  pro- 
ceed along  permanently  constructive  and  scienti- 
fic lines;  stimulate  a  social  consciouness  that  tran- 
scends a  single  local  church  or  demomination  and 
includes  the  whole  community.  Some  encourag- 
ing results  should  be  in  evidence  before  the  efforts 
sink  down  on  to  the  plane  of  dull,  hopeless 
drudgery.  The  idea  of  achieving  immortality 
through  service  rendered  to  an  institution  which 
abides  through  the  centuries  —  the  custodian  of  the 
personal  influence  of  the  saints  of  former  genera- 
tions —  makes  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  middle 
adolescent  mind. 


90  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

LATER  ADOLESCENT  RELIGION 

The  first  task  of  the  one  responsible  for  the 
religion  of  young  people  between  the  ages  of  eight- 
een and  twenty  and  whose  mental  development 
has  continued  normally,  is  to  help  them  to  hold 
on  to  the  religious  sentiments,  ideals  and  habits 
and  the  church  membership  which  are  already 
theirs.  Loyalty  to  the  church  and  church  school, 
delight  in  doing  God's  will,  vital  appreciation  of 
prayer,  worship  and  Bible  study,  enthusiastic 
service  supported  by  a  religious  motive,  should 
all  be  kept  alive.  The  vital  religious  experiences 
of  the  past  must  not  be  permitted  to  fade  away. 
Sustain  them  at  any  cost.  Mere  consistency,  how- 
ever, should  not  be  sacrificed  in  the  interest  of 
progress. 

But  in  order  to  do  this,  the  religion  of  childhood 
and  early  youth  must  become  increasingly  mean- 
ingful. At  this  age,  young  people  try  to  under- 
stand as  well  as  to  enjoy  their  religion.  Their 
enjoyment  of  it  comes  largely  through  deeper  and 
clearer  insight.  They  insist  upon  the  right  to 
ask  questions.  They  are  quick  to  discover  weak- 
nesses in  religious  organizations  and  institutions 
or  to  note  any  disparity  between  practice  and  pro- 
fession. They  are  the  full  fledged  iconoclasts. 

The  religion  that  controlled  impulses  and 
sentiments,  during  the  preceding  years,  is  now 
called  upon  to  control  the  reason. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  91 

An  elevated  self-confidence  and  sense  of  power 
leads  to  discontent  with  responsibilities  that  are 
not  correspondingly  large.  Service  as  well  as 
loyalty  is  judged  from  the  standpoint  of  the  ideal. 
It  is  first  pure  idealism,  then  passionate  idealism, 
and  finally  practical  idealism  that  mark  the  succes- 
sive stages  of  adolescent  imagination.  The  capa- 
city for  self-sacrifice,  power  of  endurance,  sustained 
loyalty  and  quick  response  when  help  is  needed  are 
all  seen  in  the  kind  of  service  rendered  by  our 
later  adolescent  young  people  in  war  time.  They 
also  suggest  the  kinds  of"  opportunities  for  service 
which  the  church  should  supply.  The  moral 
equivalent  of  war-work  is  a  pressing  demand. 

A  fusing  of  patriotism  and  religion  is  character- 
istic of  these  years.  The  ideal  of  the  Kingdom  of 
God  realized  in  actual  civic,  social,  political  and 
economic  affairs  appeals  to  them  profoundly. 
There  is  splendid  youthful  courage  seen  in  their 
readiness  to  undertake  programs  of  social  and 
political  reform.  The  practical  undertakings 
needed  to  create  a  truly  Christian  community 
and  state,  present  a  challenge  to  which  they  reply 
— "Here  am  I,  send  me."  This  is  the  youth  who 
replies — "I  can." 

Religion  is  adapted  to  the  need  and  capacities 
of  this  period  when  itjs  formulated  into  accurate 
statements  of  belief,  when  its  historic  origin  and 
development  are  clearly  set  forth,  when  it  is  pre- 


92  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

sented  as  a  gigantic  program — a  going  concern 
that  needs  the  support  of  those  who  are  strong, 
and  when  it  can  furnish  guiding  principles  to  help 
in  choosing  a  vocation,  a  life  companion,  a  politi- 
cal party,  a  denomination  or  a  fraternal  organiza- 
tion. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  young  people  are 
independently  thoughtful  in  religious  matters 
before  they  are  capable  of  sustaining  their  religion 
without  the  help  of  others.  This  means  that  they 
begin  to  form  their  own  ideals  before  they  are  able 
to  manage  their  daily  conduct.  It  is  not  always 
easy  to  bring  practice  up  on  to  the  level  of  profes- 
sion. There  sometimes  follows  a  certain  incon- 
sistency between  the  two.  The  youth  may  be 
splendidly  encouraging  to  us  as  to  his  purpose, 
and  yet  discouraging  in  his  actions  when  with  his 
crowd.  We  must  be  patient  until  his  actions  begin 
to  catch  up  with  his  ideals,  and  help  him  to  see 
what  actions  belong  with  his  ideals  and  that  re- 
ligious creeds  and  denominational  loyalties  are 
intensely  practicable. 

NOTE:  The  strong  word,  "complex,"  is  used  here  for  a  specific  pur- 
pose, namely,  to  call  attention  to  the  damaging  results  of  wrong  peda- 
gogical  methods  in  the  religious  nurture  of  adolescents. 

A  fully  developed  religious  complex  is  designated  as  a  compact  sys- 
tem of  religious  ideas,  of  marked  emotional  accentuation,  which  is 
split  off  from  consciousness.  It  is  more  or  less  completely  repressed 
into  the  unconscious,  remaining  there  in  a  somewhat  dormant  state. 
Now  and  then  it  is  called  forth  for  a  tune.  While  in  consciousness,  it 
annoys  and  harasses  the  mind.  Then  it  returns,  like  a  disturbed  ghost, 
to  its  resting  place.  Such  is  the  religion  of  many  an  adult. 

When  adolescent  young  people  begin  to  be  indifferent  to  their  religion, 
they  take  the  first  step  in  the  direction  of  this  disastrous  "dissociation" 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  93 

and  "repression."  It  may  be  that  they  will  never  journey  to  that  state 
where  their  religion  actually  endangers  their  mental  integrity.  But 
just  as  soon  as  a  youth  turns  against  his  religion,  it  tends  to  take  on 
definiteness  through  separation.  Internal  antagonisms  spring  up. 
A  struggle  is  begun  which  may  last  through  the  remaining  years  of 
life.  His  religion  is  finally  related  to  the  mind  only  by  means  of  dis- 
sociation and  repression. 

If  religious  teachers  of  youth  could  only  be  made  to  see  the  ripened 
results  of  their  errors,  in  terms  of  religious  complexes,  they  would  have 
a  new  motive  for  self -preparation  for  their  work. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP  STUDY 

1.  Compare  the  religion  of  later  childhood  with 
that  of  adolescence. 

2.  What  is  a  potential  "religious  complex"? 

3.  What  are  some  of  the  general  characteristics 
of  adolescent  religion? 

4.  Why  are  the  life  stories  of  religious  heroes 
especially  appropriate  for  early  adolescents? 

5.  How   does    the    vigorous   activity   of  early 
adolescent  boys  and  girls  affect  their  religion? 

6.  What  are  the  outstanding  marks  of  middle 
adolescent   religion? 

7.  What  practical  difficulties  are  involved  in 
being  religious  during  these  years? 

8.  What  effect  do  social  sentiments  now  have 
upon  religion? 

9.  What  are  the  chief  characteristics  of  later 
adolescent  religion? 

10.  Of  what  use  is  religion  to  young  people  in 
this  stage  of  development? 

11.  Describe    the    creed-making    tendency    of 
later  adolescence. 


CHAPTER  VI 
RULING  MOTIVES 

Besides  their  religious  faith  and  those  impulses 
that  find  expression  particularly  in  play,  there  are 
seven  outstanding  motives  that  are.  clearly  re- 
flected in  the  conduct  of  adolescent  young  people. 
They  are  pride,  dissatisfaction  with  the  common- 
place, hero-worship,  responsibility,  group  loyalty, 
chivalry  and  the  "career-motive." 

PRIDE 

There  is  nothing  which  the  average  young  per- 
son dreads  more  than  to  be  the  object  of  ridicule. 
This  explains  the  absolute  determination  to  have 
neckties  or  blouses,  hats  or  spats,  of  the  extremest 
mode  acceptable  to  by  the  special  circle  of  friends. 
Their  idealism  permeates  their  self -consciousness. 
This  also  explains  why  this  public  opinion  of  the 
boy's  "gang"  or  the  girl's  "crowd"  is  taken  to 
heart.  It  registers  the  degree  of  one's  elevation 
or  humiliation. 

We  may  take  advantage  of  this  motive,  even 

though  it  be  not  the  highest  one.     It  is  a  potent 

help  toward  cleanliness  and  neatness  of  person. 

It  assists  in  learning  social  graces  and  in  practising 

94 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  95 

the  outer  signs  of  courtesy.  So  far  as  it  conven- 
tionalizes the  youth's  conduct,  it  delivers  him 
from  the  more  brutal  vices,  and  if  the  motive  can 
be  lifted  to  the  level  of  honor,  it  makes  him  im- 
mune to  the  lower  temptations,  for,  as  President 
Stanley  Hall  tells  us:  "Of  all  safeguards  honor  is 
the  most  effective  at  this  age." 

This  is  a  good  time  in  which  to  appeal  to  the 
pride  of  clan,  to  tell  the  stories  of  ancestors  who 
were  brave  and  pure  and  courtly,  and  set  up  a 
standard  for  the  family  beneath  which  no  member 
of  it  will  care  to  fall.  The  church  school  teacher 
finds  that  pride  in  the  school  which  inspires  loyalty 
is  one  of  the  most  potent  motives  of  student  dis- 
cipline. 

"My  children  always  sing  better,"  the  father  of 
the  Peet  family  of  concert  singers  used  to  say  in 
public,  "when  they  are  applauded."  All  lives 
give  better  music  when  they  are  praised.  No 
matter  what  may  be  the  perturbations  in  an 
adult  leader's  heart,  he  must  steadily  retain  the 
attitude  of  expecting  right  conduct.  No  matter 
how  much  the  youth  may  become  discouraged 
concerning  himself,  and  during  the  moody  years 
of  adolescence  there  are  many  days  of  utter 
despair,  he  will  always  insist  that,  no  matter 
how  many  mistakes  or  failures  are  made,  the 
youth  himself  is  going  to  come  out  all  right. 


96  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

More  youths  have  been  saved  by  feeling  beneath 
themselves  the  solid  rock  of  confidence  on  the 
part  of  adult  leaders,  than  by  any  other  one  fact. 

"It  is  a  very  dangerous,  wicked  thing/'  says 
Orison  Swett  Harden,  "to  destroy  a  child's  self- 
faith."  Children  are  very  easily  discouraged. 
Some  of  the  most  hopeful  children  develop  very 
slowly,  while  some  more  brilliant  show,  during 
the  process  of  development,  very  trying  traits. 
While  overpraise  is  as  bad  as  utter  neglect,  ap- 
preciation of  the  effort  and  enthusiasm  shown  by 
youth  at  playing  the  violin,  at  making  some  little 
composition  or  some  mechanical  device,  may  be 
just  the  inspiration  needed  to  bring  forth  a  nascent 
talent  to  the  sunshine. 

In  his  "Mind  in  the  Making,"  Dr.  Edgar  J. 
Swift  gives  us  a  striking  catalogue  of  instances  of 
men  who  became  great  who  showed  little  promise 
during  adolescence.  Charles  Darwin  was  "sing- 
ularly incapable  of  mastering  any  language." 
His  father  told  him  he  would  be  a  disgrace  to  him- 
self and  his  family.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  stood 
forty-second  in  his  class  at  the  military  school,'  but 
who  were  the  forty-one  above  him?  Patrick 
Henry  "ran  wild  in  forests,  like  one  of  the  aborig- 
ines and  divided  his  life  between  dissipation 
and  the  languor  of  inaction."  So  little  ability 
did  Sir  Isaac  Newton  show  that  at  fifteen  he  was 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  07 

taken  out  of  school  and  set  to  work  upon  a  farm. 
Lord  Byron  succeeded  in  reaching  the  head  of  his 
class  only  by  inverting  the  proper  order,  so  that 
the  most  ignorant  were  temporarily  placed  first. 
Oliver  Goldsmith's  teacher  "thought  him  one  of 
the  dullest  boys  that  she  had  ever  tried  to  teach." 
Henry  Ward  Beecher  was  a  "poor  writer  and  a 
miserable  speller,  with  a  thick  utterance  and  a 
bashful  reticence  that  seemed  like  stupidity." 
One  simply  cannot  afford  to  prophecy  failure  for 
a  boy  who  has  not  found  himself. 

DISSATISFACTION  WITH  THE  COMMONPLACE 

During  the  years  of  pre-adolescence,  boys  and 
girls  seem  to  appreciate  repetition  and  routine. 
It  is  the  familiar  things  that  occasion  satisfaction. 
Habits  are  forming  and  the  habit-making  experi- 
ences do  not  annoy.  There  is  no  serious  objec- 
tion to  the  same  thing  over  and  over.  If  the 
same  experience  is  repeated  regularly  and  fre- 
quently the  child  does  not  object. 

But  after  adolescence  has  been  reached,  there 
is  particular  appreciation  and  exceptions.  The 
commonplace  palls.  There  is  an  intense  desire  to 
escape  from  mere  routine.  Satiety  in  any  one 
direction  is  easily  reached.  Variety  is  the  spice 
of  adolescent  life.  Wanderlust  seizes  the  mind 
at  times  and  the  impulse  to  migrate  is  overpower- 


98  THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ing.  The  future  time  and  distant  place  become 
burdened  with  great  treasures.  The  mind  de- 
mands excitement.  Where  there  is  no  change 
there  is  little  interest. 

Even  those  adolescents  who  do  not  disappear 
mysteriously  from  home  do  become  restless  and 
frankly  express  dissatisfaction  with  familiar  con- 
ditions. Ordinary  clothes  are  no  longer  adequate. 
The  plain  and  simple  annals  of  lowly  living  awaken 
no  appreciation.  The  majority  of  adolescents 
are  unwilling  to  begin  in  the  lowly  circumstances 
where  their  parents  began.  To  their  friends  or 
companions  they  apologize  for  home  conditions 
that  do  not  appeal  to  the  imagination.  Tastes 
tend  to  become  extravagant.  It  is  the  uncommon 
thing  tjiat  arouses  curiosity  and  desire.  Patience 
is  not  a  universal  adolescent  virtue. 

HERO-WORSHIP 

Another  ruling  motive  is  that  of  hero-worship. 
"Every  man,"  someone  has  said,  "is  some  boy's 
hero."  Many  a  boy  who  would  almost  fight  at 
the  implication  that  he  is  a  "good  boy"  is  quite 
willing  to  be  any  of  the  qualities  characterized  by 
the  man  he  admires,  who  may  chance  to  be  one  of 
the  best  of  men.  The  youth  is  now  a  loyal  St. 
Christopher,  searching  for  his  strongest  master. 
"That  boy  looks  upon  me  as  his  hero  and  I  dare 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  99 

not  let  him  down,"  said  a  man  struggling  to  keep 
his  own  conduct  on  a  high  moral  plane. 

You  can  guide  a  youth,  Kirtley  tells  us,  in  the 
course  you  want  him  to  take,  by  the  interest  he 
takes  in  those  who  are  going  that  way.  What  an 
extraordinary  personality  must  have  been  that  of 
Mike  Murphy,  late  athletic  coach  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania,  who  could  say  to  the  men  of  a 
losing  football  team  between  halves,  "If  you  can't 
win  for  the  sake  of  Pennsylvania,  if  you  can't  win 
for  the  sake  of  your  mothers  and  sweethearts,  go 
into  the  game  and  win  for  me!"  They  won  the 
game.  How  many  professed  adult  leaders  there 
are  who  could  not  say  a  thing  like  that  without 
being  laughed  at?  That  such  a  man  should  live 
and  not  only  talk  so  but  be  followed  to  victory  is 
not  at  all  incredible  to  your  adolescent  son.  He 
has  just  felt  that  way  toward  some  man  himself. 

The  girl's  hero  worship  is  as  absorbing,  and  as 
potent  for  character  molding  as  the  boy's.  Her 
hero  may  be  her  father,  or  some  other  man  of  her 
actual  acquaintance,  or  he  may  be  a  character  in 
history  to  which  she  is  adapting  her  growth  toward 
a  complementary  womanhood. 

But  the  x'adoree"  must  be  a  tangible  person. 
In  the  dramatic  plays  of  childhood,  she  has  "tried 
on"  various  characters  as  she  saw  them  about  her, 
and  from  the  "feel"  of  them,  she  has  built  an 


100          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ideal,  has  chosen  the  elements  most  to  her  liking 
and  built  them  into  an  ideal.  Now  she  must  see 
how  this  ideal  looks  in  actual  life.  The  woman 
may  be  hardly  more  than  a  lay  figure  for  this  mar- 
velous drapery  of  perfection,  but  the  girl  is  not 
conscious  of  that.  If  the  parents  have  made  it 
possible  for  the  girl  to  know  women  who  are  both 
attractive  and  worthy,  the  girl  will  be  pretty  sure 
to  choose  for  her  worship  one  whose  influence  will 
be  wholesome.  Neither  need  the  mother  grieve 
that  such  intense  affection  is  given  to  another. 
It  is  one  of  the  ways  in  which  the  girl's  horizon  is 
widened  and  her  experience  deepened. 

Was  Dr.  Slaughter  too  emphatic  when  he  said, 
"The  chief  value  of  great  men  is  to  fertilize  the 
imagination  of  adolescents?"  He  was  saying 
that  heroes  have  not  appeared  in  the  world's 
history  at  random.  They  are  the  final  expression 
of  various  vocational  types — the  sailor,  the  soldier, 
the  engineer,  the  adventurer,  the  man  of  affairs. 
Thus  they  connect  themselves  with  the  interests  of 
childhood,  they  inspire  children  and  youth  to  fol- 
low them.  It  is  of  distinct  advantage  if  young 
people  can  be  brought  into  either  personal  or 
imaginative  relations  during  adolescence  with  men 
who  are  leaders,  particularly  in  the  vocational 
fields  towards  which  they  themselves  seem  in- 
clined. Even  better  is  it  that  they  should  know 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  101 

a  man  or  woman  who  is  grandly  following  one  of 
the  idealistic  callings.  Some  of  us  have  felt  that 
it  was  asset  enough  for  such  a  life  as  his  that  Dr. 
Grenfell  should  come  to  the  States  every  other 
winter  from  his  heroic  work  in  Labrador,  simply 
that  our  younger  people  might  meet  him  and  grasp 
his  hand. 

RESPONSIBILITY  ' 

Another  ruling  motive  is  that  of  responsibility. 
Many  a  boy  will  do  work  well  if  he  is  in  charge  of 
the  job.  Now,  more  than  ever,  we  should  give 
adolescent  boys  and  girls  opportunities  to  use 
their  common  sense.  Resourcefulness  and  the 
power  of  initiative  are  important  factors  in  the 
aim  of  American  education.  The  responsibility 
of  the  government  they  cannot  evade.  In  a 
democracy,  the  ability  to  originate  and  to  direct 
affairs  is  priceless. 

This  is  perhaps  the  place  in  which  to  emphasize 
the  value  of  dealing  fairly  with  our  young  people 
in  financial  matters.  In  many  homes  there  is  no 
definite  understanding  as  to  what  money  shall  be 
given  to  the  children ;  in  others  the  small  allowance 
of  earlier  years  has  been  continued,  the  parent 
carelessly  thinking  that  it  represents  as  much  as 
the  child  ought  to  spend  on  his  pleasures.  The 
result  is  that  when  the  boy  or  girl  wishes  any 


102          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

special  indulgence,  lie  goes  to  his  father,  who  re- 
sponds according  to  his  mood  or  immediate  ability, 
Then  he  holds  up  his  mother  for  the  rest  of  the 
required  amount.  The  father  feels  consciously 
that  he  is  not  handling  this  as  he  does  other 
financial  matters,  the  mother  recognizes  her  weak- 
ness in  yielding  to  entreaty,  and  the  youth  feels 
that  he  has  been  treated  like  a  little  child. 

The  only  proper  way  to  treat  a  child  in  the  home 
is  to  give  him  a  weekly  allowance,  which  will  be 
one-fifty-second  of  the  carefully  estimated  cost  of 
his  needs  during  the  year,  exclusive  of  board  and 
such  accidents  as  doctor's  bills,  to  be  paid  over  to 
the  child  without  question  every  week.  By  this 
method,  he  gets  an  opportunity  to  learn  the  value 
of  money  by  having  enough  with  which  to  learn 
its  value. 

It  is  not  in  the  bath  tub  that  we  teach  children 
to  swim;  we  do  not  send  them  to  school  without 
text-books;  yet  we  expect  them  to  learn  the  uses 
of  money  without  money. 

The  value  of  the  weekly  allowance  is  in  fact 
more  than  a  device;  it  is  a  principle.  The  child, 
partly  because  of  his  preciousness  and  partly  be- 
cause he  is  of  some  real  value  in  the  home,  de- 
serves to  be  recognized  as  a  sort  of  partner. 

The  home  is  the  fountain  of  democracy  and  its 
advantages  for  practice  in  co-operation  should  be 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  103 

utilized  to  the  full.  What  he  receives  should  not 
be  doled  out  as  a  sum  given  an  infant,  but  a  fair 
share  of  the  family  income  should  be  his.  In  re- 
turn for  this  he  should,  of  course,  perform  his 
share  of  service.  What  that  service  shall  be 
should  be  put  in  the  form  of  a  contract  at  the 
time  he  begins  to  receive  his  income.  The  receipt 
of  this  allowance,  like  his  father's  receipt  of  salary, 
should  depend  upon  his  fulfillment  of  this  con- 
tract. It  is  astonishing  how  far-reaching  are  the 
effects  of  this  plan.  It  applies  not  merely  to 
financial  affairs  but  to  the  determination  of  other 
questions.  The  matter  of  money  is  so  closely 
intertwined  with  all  a  young  person's  pleasures 
and  problems  that  the  placing  of  the  youth  upon 
his  own  responsibility  and  honor  works  out  many 
difficulties  of  varied  character. 

Kirtley  has  put  the  matter  clearly  in  these 
words:  "To  some  extent  his  work  ought  to  have 
material  remuneration.  Often  he  wants  no  more 
than  the  pleasure  of  helping  and  the  appreciation 
he  deserves.  Those  two  rewards  must  never  fail 
to  come.  If  there  is  no  form  of  interest  he  can 
take  in  his  work,  it  will  become  only  eye-service. 
He  will  be  at  cross  purposes  with  duty.  Co-op- 
erative partnership  is  most  congenial  to  him.  It 
appeals  to  his  self-respect,  enlightens  him  about 


104          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

values  and  needs,  and  gives  him  an  unselfish 
interest  in  others  besides  himself. 

"It  is  of  the  highest  importance  that  he  receive 
some  of  the  rewards  in  order  to  gratify  and  train 
his  sense  of  ownership  and  responsibility,  to  satisfy 
his  sense  of  right  and  to  secure  the  uncoerced 
co-operation  of  his  will.  The  sharing  may  be  in 
indirect  ways.  Even  if  his  part  goes  back  into 
the  common  fund  for  the  support  of  the  family, 
he  is  usually  willing,  provided  he  can  have  the 
pleasure  of  being  in  the  combine,  and  can  retain 
his  sense  of  freedom. 

"His  ownership  of  his  earnings  is  to  be  recog- 
nized, even  though  he  is  not  to  be  left  without 
instructions  as  to  the  way  he  should  handle  them. 
Habits  of  thrift  must  be  taught  both  in  the  work 
done  and  in  the  care  taken  of  his  possessions. 

"Possessions  mean  power,  and  thrift  is  prepara- 
tion for  peace.  He  cannot  take  care  of  his  own 
things  unless  he  has  a  place  for  them  which  is  his 
own.  That  is  one  of  the  reasons  why  a  boy  should 
have  a  room,  a  trunk  and  all  the  equipment  with 
which  to  take  care  of  his  things." 

It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize,  as  President  King 
says,  "that  one  of  the  inalienable  rights  of  every 
human  being  is  the  right  to  make  at  least  some 
blunders  of  his  own."  It  is  the  rather  startling 
theory  of  Gerald  Stanley  Lee  that  some  people 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  105 

by  reading  of  sins  in  books,  are  prevented  from 
committing  some  of  their  own.  It  may  be  that 
some  of  the  faults  of  youth  have  a  similar  immun- 
izing value  in  forestalling  more  serious  deeds  that 
otherwise  might  be  committed  later.  In  learning 
to  swim,  we  expect  a  boy  to  begin  by  floundering, 
nevertheless  we  put  him  in  the  water;  in  learning 
to  play  baseball  or  golf,  we  expect  him  to  miss  the 
ball,  nevertheless  we  put  into  his  hands  the  bat 
or  the  stick;  we  do  not,  however,  show  a  similarly 
free  willingness  for  actual  experiment  in  other 
matters  of  choice. 

The  boy  wants  to  go  to  places  where  his  parents 
feel  they  cannot  permit  him  to  go;  other  boys  go, 
why  not  he?  Is  it  not  time  that  he  was  taught 
self-government  and  the  sense  of  responsibility 
for  his  own  behavior?  Soon  they  cannot  pre- 
vent him,  as  in  the  past,  by  simply  prohibiting. 
"Would  it  not  be  wise  to  say,"  as  an  experienced 
mother  suggested,  "'Now,  my  son,  it  is  time  you 
learned  to  decide  for  yourself.  Only  a  few  years, 
and  you  must  go  from  under  the  parental  roof. 
Then  mother  and  father  may  not  be  near  to  decide 
for  you,  even  if  you  desire  it,  as  no  doubt  you  often 
will,  so  I  shall  not  say  you  cannot  go,  but  leave 
you  to  decide.  You  have  perhaps  had  better 
teaching  than  some  of  the  boys  you  mention;  if  so, 
more  will  be  required  of  you  by  the  hand  of  God. 


106          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

I  have  confidence  in  you,  and  believe  you  want  to 
do  right.  I  shall  be  glad  to  advise  you,  but  must 
leave  you  to  decide.'  By  this  course  you  may 
teach  him  a  lesson  in  self-government,  which  is  so 
frequently  neglected.  When  your  boy  gets  from 
under  restraint,  never  having  exercised  the  power 
of  self-government,  of  self-control,  he  often  goes 
into  vice,  and  we  wonder  why  the  children  of  good 
parents  should  turn  out  so  badly." 

Girls  also  much  need  this  practice  in  good  judg- 
ment and  self -direction.  We  have  advocated 
during  the  earlier  periods  of  childhood  some  meas- 
ure of  natural  penalty.  We  must  still  trust  our- 
selves, and  our  youth  to  some  extent,  to  this 
method.  Since  we  can  no  longer  punish  them, 
we  must  allow  them  to  punish  themselves.  While 
it  sometimes  seems  to  us  that  the  results  of  their 
conduct  in  pain  or  loss  of  reputation  are  serious, 
these  are  bound  to  be  less  serious  than  if  the 
mistakes  were  made  later,  when  they  are  away 
from  home,  as  they  are  bound  to  do  if  they  do 
not  learn  self-government  now. 

We  speak  of  the  self-assertiveness,  the  arro- 
gance and  "cantankerousness"  of  youth  so  often 
seen  in  connection  with  a  vivid  sense  of  responsi- 
bility and  free  self -direction.  "These  sharp- 
cornered  stones,"  says  James  P.  Munrce,  "which 
we  builders  would  like  to  reject,  may  be  made,  on 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  107 

the  contrary,  head  of  the  corner  in  the  boy's  edu- 
cation, for  it  is  these  qualities  which  will  most 
quickly  respond  to  any  moral  appeal." 

"Sensitiveness"  is  another  and  very  common 
characteristic  of  many  girls  and  of  some  boys. 
If  undirected,  it  leads  to  all  sorts  of  misery  for 
themselves  and  others.  But  it  is  the  material 
out  of  which  sympathy  is  made.  Over-sensitive 
souls  must  be  helped  to  see  their  privilege  and  their 
responsibility  for  a  social  use  of  their  special 
make-up. 

Here  is  another  argument  for  giving  the  adoles- 
cent youth  a  room  of  his  own.  He  needs  a  sanc- 
tuary, he  needs  a  place  to  be  by  himself  where  he 
can  think  out  his  long,  long  thoughts.  He  needs 
a  chance  to  get  out  of  the  influence  of  his  gang  and 
even  of  his  parents,  so  that  he  may  become  a  per- 
sonality. Through  the  decoration  of  his  room 
he  can  objectify  his  own  thoughts,  expressing  his 
growing  ideals  through  the  articles,  both  useful 
and  ornamental,  with  which  he  fills  it.  Here  in 
hours  of  over-stress  he  can  let  off  steam  and  make 
more  noise  than  could  be  borne  in  any  other  part 
of  the  house.  He  will  be  fairly  quiet  everywhere 
else  if  he  knows  that  there  is  one  room  always 
at  his  disposal  for  free  self-expression.  A  boy  as 
well  as  a  girl  sometimes  wants  to  cry,  and  he  ought 
to  have  the  privilege  of  a  wailing-post  in  solitude. 


108          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  youth  is  brought  to  full  individuality 
chiefly  by  the  exercise  of  responsibility.  "The 
majority  of  people  who  have  been  of  the  greatest 
service  in  the  world,"  says  Mrs.  Birney,  "are 
those  who  are  capable  of  taking  responsibility." 

GROUP  LOYALTY 

If  the  child  has  a  normal  social  development,  by 
the  time  he  is  ten  years  old  he  should  find  himself 
belonging  to  a  gang  or  holding  a  recognized  place 
in  a  group.  By  the  time  he  has  completed  his 
twelfth  year  certain  strong  but  tender  sentiments 
bind  him  to  his  bunch  of  pals. 

This  group  loyalty,  already  awakened  when  the 
period  of  adolescence  is  reached,  increases  in 
intensity  provided  the  gang  in  which  membership 
is  held  had  a  progressively  interesting  program 
of  activities.  Thus  a  suitable  play  program  for 
a  group  becomes  a  means  whereby  a  youth's 
capacity  for  loyalty  to  social  units  or  institutions 
is  realized.  He  thus  comes  into  possession  of  one 
of  the  great  essentials  of  citizenship  and  Chris- 
tian character. 

The  motive  that  unites  a  boy  to  the  first  gang  in 
which  he  holds  membership  may  be  selfish.  It  is 
a  means  of  getting  what  is  otherwise  bey6nd  his 
reach.  One  boy,  for  instance,  can  "stand  guard" 
while  the  others  fill  their  pockets  or  blouses  with 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  109 

fruit.  Later  in  some  rendezvous,  the  harvest  is 
equally  shared.  This  selfish  motive,  however,  is 
soon  substituted  for  one  that  is  unselfish.  The 
youth  discovers  that  to  make  a  contribution  to  the 
welfare  of  the  group  is  a  source  of  joy.  Loyalty 
reaches  a  higher  moral  plane  when  it  is  thus  sus- 
tained by  an  unselfish  motive. 

If  the  things  for  which  the  group  stands  are  in 
harmony  with  the  moral  law  and  Christian  ideals, 
then  loyalty  to  that  group  becomes  a  powerful 
factor  in  regulating  conduct  properly.  It  keeps 
the  youth  from  doing  the  things  that  are  disal- 
lowed by  a  morally  wholesome  public  opinion. 
It  gives  him  practice  in  controlling  his  conduct 
so  that  it  will  be  pleasing  to  others.  His  social 
imagination  is  also  quickened.  The  fight  be- 
tween his  own  gang  and  a  similar  though  hostile 
group  will  help  him  later,  more  readily  to  ally 
himself  to  other  adults  in  the  attempt  to  overthrow 
a  damaging  social  institution.  One  reason  why 
many  moral  reforms  proceed  so  haltingly  is  found 
in  the  lack  of  capacity  for  group  loyalty  on  the 
part  of  the  men  and  women  of  to-day. 

CHIVALRY 

The  youth  who  hardly  seems  mature  enough  to 
accept  responsibility  for  his  own  self  proudly 
assumes  the  responsibility  of  caring  for  one 


110          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

younger  or  feebler  than  himself.  It  may  be 
hardly  ennobling  for  a  woman  to  make  an  appeal 
of  her  own  weakness,  but  it  is  always  inspiring  to 
appeal  to  a  boy's  strength  on  her  behalf. 

Girls  can  be  trained  to  accept  this  chivalry  in 
a  way  that  stimulates  manliness,  instead  of  with 
the  self-conscious  and  selfish  coquetry  which 
spoils  both  the  boy  and  the  girl.  The  teacher  in 
school,  the  leader  in  a  summer  camp,  and  the 
parent  in  the  home  find  the  youth  who  is  asked  to 
be  responsible  for  the  welfare  of  little  folks  seldom 
deserts  or  betrays  his  trust.  "If  he  would  be 
masterful,  overbearing  and  pugnacious,"  says 
Munroe,  "put  him  in  charge  of  weaker  or  smaller 
boys,  making  him  responsible  for  their  safety, 
and,  unknown  to  him,  those  wards  of  his  will  pro- 
tect him  far  more  than  he  will  them." 

In  some  neighborhoods  emphasis  should  be 
placed  upon  the  duty  of  teaching  daughters  to  be 
chivalrous  to  their  mothers.  Why  are  we  all 
under  the  impression  that  chivalry  is  a  virtue 
becoming  only  to  boys?  Are  not  fathers  some- 
times too  inclined  to  like  to  hold  companionship 
with  the  bright,  prettily  dressed  daughter,  while 
the  plainly  garbed  mother  who  made  the  pretty 
clothes  sits,  somewhat  overshadowed,  in  the 
background?  Here  is  a  new  place  for  the  chivalry 
of  fathers  and  the  righteous  self-assertion  of 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  111 

mothers.  What  could  be  fairer  than  that  the 
daughter  who  loves  pretty  things  should  learn  to 
make  them?  Could  we  not  mass  the  sense  of 
fairness  in  the  family  in  such  a  way  that  mother 
should  get  her  rights  and  regain  her  place  and  that 
daughter  should  give  her  the  deference  which  the 
Proverbs  tells  us  belongs  to  the  "virtuous"  (or 
capable)  woman? 

A  LIFE  PURPOSE 

Gradually  out  of  the  varied  experiences  of  ado- 
lescence grows  a  life  purpose.  The  reader  may  not 
at  first  agree  with  that  strong  statement  of  Presi- 
dent Eliot:  "The  career-motive  holds  more  spirit- 
ual content  than  any  other."  Yet  interpreting 
the  phase  broadly,  is  this  not  true?  As  soon  as  the 
youth  has  seized  the  helm  of  his  own  life,  does  he 
not  find  that  he  has  repeated  that  critical  experi- 
ence which  came  to  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  when 
he  said,  reverently,  that,  after  a  restless  youth, 
trying  to  master  himself,  he  came  at  length 
"right  about"  and  discovered  that  he  has  been  in 
charge  of  "the  helmsman,  God." 

"It  is  not  of  so  much  consequence,"  says  Presi- 
dent Hyde,  "what  a  boy  knows  when  he  leaves 
school,  as  what  he  loves."  May  not  a  part  of  the 
meaning  of  this  statement  be  that  his  interests, 
his  choice  of  a  vocation,  his  friendships,  his  relig- 


112          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ious  purposes,  all  that  constitute  his  life-ideal, 
are  worth  more  than  all  his  book-knowledge? 

That  is  one  of  the  most  vital  matters  to  be 
looked  out  for  in  the  girl's  school,  as  well.  In 
this  new  age,  the  woman's  life  is  as  subject  to  the 
hazard  of  change  as  is  the  man's.  It  is  as  impera- 
tive that  it  should  be  planned  and  prepared  and 
directed  with  a  conscious  purpose  of  fitting  the 
needs  of  the  world,  instead  of  being  allowed  to 
drift, 

COMBINATION  OF  MOTIVES 

Let  us  not  think  that  these  ruling  motives  are 
like  a  set  of  push-buttons  which,  when  pressed, 
in  turn  release  certain  currents  of  activity.  They 
are  rather  like  the  notes  of  a  piano,  and  the  wise 
parent-player  finds  that  he  can  make  music,  by 
playing  them  in  chords.  Felix  Adler  instances  the 
virtue  of  cleanliness,  which  he  says  we  may  arrive 
at  by  appealing  at  one  time  to  the  aesthetic  in- 
stinct, at  another  to  the  prudential,  again  to  the 
motive  of  self-respect,  to  sympathy,  and  some- 
times to  two  or  more  of  them  at  once.  They  all, 
he  says,  "say  Amen!  to  the  moral"  instinct. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  CLASS  STUDY 

1.  Name  seven  of  the  ruling  motives  of  adoles- 
cent young  people. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  113 

£.  How  do  you  explain  the  fact  that  personal 
appearance  is  a  serious  concern  during  these 
years? 

3.  Why  do  adolescent  young  people  object  to 
being  odd? 

4.  In  what  ways  do  they  show  dissatisfaction 
with  the  commonplace? 

5.  What  are  some  of  the  benefits  of  having  a 
regular  allowance? 

6.  At  what  age  should  a  boy  or  girl "  go  to  work" 
and  assume  full  responsibility  for  paying  for  board, 
room,  clothes  and  recreation? 

7.  How  can  a  boy  or  girl  decide  what  vocation 
to  choose? 

8.  How  can  girls  be  chivalrous? 

9.  In  what  way  does   group  loyalty  prepare 
young  people  for  Christian  citizenship? 

10.  What  is  the  influence  of  the  "  career-motive" 
upon  character? 

11.  How  may  the  ruling  motives  of  adolescence 
be  combined? 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  ADOLESCENT  PRODIGAL 

THE  PRODIGAL 

Some  adolescent  young  people  endowed  with 
exceptional  vigor  and  precociousness  do  not  yield 
readily  to  the  influences  which  should  be  adequate 
to  keep  them  within  the  bounds  of  good  conduct. 
The  play  spirit  seems  to  have  gone  wild.  They 
are  abnormally  self-willed.  They  may  be  living 
in  a  world  of  baseless  romance.  An  overpower- 
ing desire  to  know  the  world  sets  prudence  aside. 
With  the  passions  of  maturity  and  the  self-re- 
straint of  childhood,  the  vigor  of  a  man  and  the 
judgment  of  a  boy,  they  are  ripe  for  any  course  of 
conduct  which  suggests  itself  to  them. 

Such  boys  or  girls  may  drift  into  one  of  a  number 
of  different  courses.  They  may  play  truant  con- 
stantly or  drop  back  of  their  grade  in  school;  they 
may  run  away  from  home;  they  may,  at  home  or 
elsewhere,  become  dissipated.  In  any  case,  they 
are  likely  to  enter  into  many  changes,  perhaps 
failing  in  one  school  after  another  or  in  one  posi- 
tion after  another.  They  show  a  discouraging 
lack  of  aptitude  for  anything  in  particular  within 
the  ordinary  range  of  adolescent  behavior. 
114 


,      OF  ADOLESCENTS  115 

JUVENILE  DELINQUENCY 

During  the  ten  years  from  July  1, 1899,  to  June 
30,  1909,  there  were  11,413  boys  and  2,770  girls 
who  appeared  in  the  juvenile  courts  of  Chicago; 
228  of  the  boys  appeared  on  two  offenses.  The 
nature  of  the  offenses  is  indicated  by  the  following 
list*: 

Offenses  Boys.  Girls. 

Stealing 50.8%  15.0% 

Incomgibility 21.7  42.8 

Disorderly  conduct 16.2  6.7 

Malicious  mischief 6.5  0.2 

Vagrancy 2.3  0.1 

Immorality 1.6  31 .4 

Dependent  charges 0.8  3.3 

Truancy 0.7  0.0 

Miscellaneous 1.4  0.1 

Offense  not  given C.O  0.4 

More  than  half  (fifty-one  per  cent)  of  the  boys 
were  brought  into  court  for  the  violation  of  prop- 
erty rights.  Eighty-one  per  cent  of  the  girls 
were  classified  as  incorrigible,  disorderly  and  im- 
moral. 

The  age  of  these  delinquent  children  and  young 
people  was  as  follows: 

*  (The  above  chart  and  the  succeeding  four,  together  with 
some  of  the  general  conclusions  are  taken  from  "The  Delin- 
quent Child  and  the-  Home,"  Breckenridge  and  Abbott, 
published  by  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation). 


116          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Age  Boys  Girls 

7  0.4%  0.2% 

8  0.9  0.5 

9  3.2  0.9 

10  6.3  1.8 

11  9.6  2.5 

12  13.0  4.4 

13  14.6  7.3 

14  18.6  15.5 

15  22.0  26.3 

16  9.6  23.8 

17  0.2  14.2 

18  0.0  0.5 
not  reported  1.6  2.1 

"More  than  two-thirds  of  all  the  delinquent 
boys  brought  into  court  are  from  twelve  to  fifteen 
years  of  age."  "On  the  other  hand,  a  relatively 
large  number  of  girls,  1,050,  or  thirty-eight  per 
cent  are  brought  in  at  the  ages  of  sixteen  to  seven- 
teen." Signs  of  waywardness  appear  later  among 
girls  than  among  boys.  Going  to  work  often 
means  that  the  boy  will  "settle  down."  With 
girls,  it  may  mean  the  beginning  of  temptation. 

The  economic  condition  of  the  families  from 
which  this  large  number  of  juvenile  delinquents 
came  is  as  follows: 

Family  Condition  Boys  Girls 

Very  poor 38.2%  68.8% 

Poor 37.9  21 .0 

Fairly  comfortable .-.  21 .2  7.6 

Comfortable 1.7  1.3 

No  home..  1.0  1.3 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  117 

Thus  it  would  seem  that  "the  families  of  the 
delinquent  girls  are  of  a  lower  grade  than  are 
those  of  the  boys."  "In  round  numbers  nine- 
tenths  of  the  delinquent  girls  and  three-fourths  of 
the  delinquent  boys  come  from  the  homes  of  the 
poor."  In  multitudes  of  instances,  deliquency 
is  youth's  protest  against  being  forced  to  go  to 
work.  It  should  be  kept  in  mind,  in  connection 
with  the  above  table,  that  in  the  families  of  the 
well-to-do,  particularly,  are  many  instances  of 
incorrigibility  and  other  forms  of  delinquency 
which  fail  to  reach  the  attention  of  the  juvenile 
court. 

Most  eloquent  are  the  figures  indicating  the 
fact  that  it  is  the  orphan  and  homeless  child — 
the  child  of  misfortune — who  is  apt  to  become 
delinquent. 

Parental  Condition  Boys  Girls 

Father  dead 13.6%  17.8% 

Mother  dead 8.9  12.7 

Both  parents  dead 3.1  6.3 

Separated  or  divorced 1.5  3.9 

Father  deserted 1.6  3.6 

Mother  deserted .8  .7 

Both  parents  deserted '. .  1.0  1.2 

One  or  both  parents  in  prison 0.1  .3 

One  or  both  parents  insane  or  in  institu- 
tion  - .3  .5 

One  or  both  parents  still  "  in  old  country"         .1  .1 


118          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Thus  it  appears  that  in  a  total  number  of  11,413 
boys  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  juvenile  court, 
thirty-one  per  cent  did  not  have  normal  parental 
care.  In  a  total  of  2,770  girls,  over  forty-seven 
per  cent  were  living  under  similar  misfortune. 
The  primary  need  of  the  exceptionally  vigorous, 
precocious,  retarded  or  otherwise  unusual  youth 
is  a  home  and  good  parents. 

That  the  next  great  need  is  a  good  school  is  sug- 
gested by  a  .study  of  the  school  records  of  262 
delinquent  boys.  The  grades  which  marked  the 
close  of  their  school  work  were  thus  tabulated: 


Age 

Grade 

High     Per 

1st     2nd 

3rd 

4th 

5th 

6th 

7th 

8th 

School   cent 

10 

1 

1 

,7 

11 

1 

,4 

12 

2 

1 

2 

1 

.9 

13 

1 

5 

8 

8 

8 

3 

7 

15 

.3 

14 

1         6 

5 

16 

44 

29 

30 

11 

54 

.2 

15 

1 

2 

6 

4 

12 

8 

7 

1         15 

.7 

16  or  over 

1 

2 

2 

3 

8 

11 

2 

2         11 

.8 

Only  three  of  these  boys  ever  reached  high 
school.  Only  twenty-nine  others  got  as  far  as 
the  eighth  grade;  forty-five  per  cent  did  not  get 
beyond  the  fifth  grade;  twenty-five  per  cent  were 
below  the  fifth.  Eighteen  of  the  boys  in  the  first, 
second,  and  third  grades  were  fourteen  years  old 
or  older. 

One  of  the  startling  facts  revealed  in  a  study  of 
juvenile  delinquency  is  the1  large  number  of  in- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  119 

stances  where  the  offense  was  that  of  stealing  in 
order  to  secure  play  equipment.  The  homes  of 
832  boys  brought  into  the  Chicago  Juvenile  Court 
in  the  years  1903-04  were  located  and  it  was 
found  that  only  fifty-four  per  cent  of  the  total 
number  were  within  half  a  mile  of  any  public 
place  of  recreation.  That  is,  forty-six  per  cent  did 
not  have  adequate  opportunities  for  play.  It  is 
not  so  much  that  human  nature  is  bad  as  it  is  that 
instinctive  tendencies  are  not  properly  directed 
or  have  no  adequate  opportunities  for  wholesome 
expression. 

It  is  unfair  to  the  child  to  be  endowed  with  the 
desire  for  muscular  effort,  yearning  for  compan- 
ionship, delight  in  effort  directed  toward  some  end 
that  involves  risk  and  surprise,  and  other  play 
impulses,  and  then  to  be  deprived  of  suitable  con- 
ditions under  which  to  act.  Not  infrequently,  the 
responsibility  for  the  adolescent  prodigal  rests 
upon  a  prodigal  city  government,  home,  school  or 
church,  that  does  not  have  an  intelligent  appre- 
ciation of  adolescent  life  or  wilfully  refuses  to 
pay  the  price  of  coming  into  possession  of  such 
appreciation. 

When  the  vigorous  play  impulses  undertake  to 
find  expression  under  conditions  of  poverty, 
family  misfortune,  parental  delinquency,  abnor- 
mal congestion,  confusion  and  ignorance — such  as 


120         THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

is  found  in  immigrant  families  facing  the  profound 
problem  of  adjustment — they  are  apt  to  con- 
stitute a  problem  for  the  juvenile  court  or  volun- 
tary charitable  organization. 

But  the  bad  boy  who  appears  before  the  judge 
of  the  juvenile  court  is  not  necessarily  the  product 
of  poverty  or  of  misfortune.  "Even  in  the  most 
respectable  families  there  are  boys  who  find  the 
amusements  provided  by  civilized  life  very  dull 
and  who  must  occasionally  fare  forth  to  feed  the 
gnawing  spirit  of  adventure."  "The  children  of 
the  poor  are  not  more  seriously  delinquent  than 
the  children  of  the  well-to-do,  but  rather — the 
offenses  of  the  latter  do  not  easily  bring  them 
within  reach  of  the  court.  Bad  children  in  good 
homes  are  for  the  most  part  disciplined  at  home  or 
sent  away  to  school,  while  bad  children  in  poor 
homes  get  into  the  juvenile  court."  ("The  De- 
linquent Child  and  the  Home,"  page  160,  161.) 

SHALL  HE  BE  PUT  TO  WORK? 

When  a  working  man  finds  his  son  restless  or  un- 
successful in  school,  he  usually  cuts  the  matter 
short  by  putting  him  to  work.  Sometimes  this 
is  the  best  course  for  those  also  who  are  not  the 
sons  of  workingmen.  If  a  child  is  suffering  from 
too  much  luxury  and  ease  or  too  much  spending 
money  or  has  become  spoiled  for  serious  work  by 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  121 

too  much  play  and  athletics,  this  may  be  just 
what  he  needs,  and  it  may  teach  him  the  value 
of  money  and  of  school. 

The  work  chosen,  however,  should  be  selected 
chiefly  for  its  educative  rather  than  its  financial 
interest.  It  is  to  be  thought  of  as  another  kind 
of  school.  The  youth  still  needs  an  education, 
and  to  put  him  into  a  blind-alley  occupation  will 
not  only  stop  his  education  but  take  away  his 
courage.  The  only  possible  advantage  of  this 
sort  of  drudgery  is  that  he  may  get  so  tired  of  it 
as  to  choose  school  again  in  desperation.  There 
is,  no  doubt,  a  type  of  boy  who  must  get  his  edu- 
cation in  this  way,  and  if  ours  be  one  of  these  we 
ought  not  to  be  discouraged  if  this  turns  out  to  be 
the  course  of  study  that  fits  him  best.  Sometimes 
superabundant  energy  put  to  work  upon  a  busi- 
ness or  a  shop  problem  finds  its  own  moral  cor- 
rective by  this  means.  With  a  precocious  boy, 
work  has  the  advantage  of  giving  the  body  time  to 
catch  up  with  the  mind,  and  it  avoids  the  danger 
which  comes  from  sending  a  child  to  college  before 
he  is  old  enough  to  appreciate  the  best  things  a 
college  has  to  give. 

SHALL  WE  SEND  HIM  AWAY  TO  SCHOOL? 

Another  'alternative,  adopted  by  many  par- 
ents, is  to  send  a  difficult  boy  or  girl  away  to  school. 


122          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

This  is  to  be  done  only  as  a  last  resort.  If  the 
parents  are  actually  incompetent  through  ill- 
health  or  engrossment  or  lack  of  ability,  this  ex- 
pedient may  be  tried.  The  probability  is  that 
there  are  no  persons  on  earth  whom  such  a  boy  or 
girl  needs  so  much  at  just  this  time,  when  he  seems 
least  to  appreciate  them,  as  his  own  parents. 
The  moral  effect  of  sending  a  child  into  exile  is 
itself  to  be  deprecated. 

Parents,  too,  sometimes  forget  that  the  kind  of 
school  which  they  choose  as  a  retreat  for  their  son, 
a  military  academy  for  example,  has  also  been 
selected  by  the  parents  of  a  good  many  other  boys 
like  their  own.  Wise  and  skillful  though  the 
teachers  of  such  an  institution  may  be,  the  boy's 
character  is  shaped  so  much  more  by  his  fellow- 
pupils  than  by  his  masters  that  the  moral  results 
of  such  a  polite  reform  school  are  often  quite  dis- 
appointing. There  are  a  few  schools  where  daily 
hard  work,  carried  on  with  enthusiastic  school 
spirit,  is  a  part  of  the  program  in  which  a  mis- 
understood boy  may  develop  leadership,  dis- 
cover himself  and  learn  to  appreciate  his  home. 

SHALL  WE  LET  HIM  WANDER? 

It  is  not  so  dangerous  for  a  bright-minded  boy 
to  go  out  into  the  world  and  earn  his  living  as  some 
parents  suppose.  In  some  instances  it  seems 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  123 

necessary  to  let  the  youth  have  free  course  for  a 
while  and  provide  for  himself,  while  at  the  same 
time  unobtrusively  surrounding  him  with  as 
many  friends  and  helpful  influences  as  possible. 

INFLUENCES  THAT  WILL  BRING  HIM  HOME 

The  prodigal  usually  returns.  One  of  many 
influences  may  bring  him  back.  We  are  told  of 
the  prodigal  in  the  parable  that  "when  he  had 
spent  all,  there  arose  a  mighty  famine  in  that 
land,  and  he  began  to  be  in  want."  The  result 
of  having  his  own  way  usually  satisfies  a  lad  with- 
in a  short  time.  The  time  when  he  has  used  up 
his  resources  is  apt  to  be  coincident  with  the  time 
when  his  new-found  friends  desert  him  and  his 
new-found  experiences  pall  upon  him. 

Sometimes  sickness  of  body  and  sometimes  sick- 
ness of  soul  brings  him  back  home.  Sometimes 
he  simply  awakens  from  his  illusions,  and  knows 
the  truth  that  his  best  future  is  to  be  where  he 
belongs.  Again,  his  experiences  may  have  dis- 
covered for  him  new  purposes  which  he  hastens  to 
return  to  fulfill. 

As  to  which  of  the  home  influences  is  most 
powerful  in  leading  him  back,  it  would  be  hard  to 
say.  Home  itself,  with  its  food,  its  friendliness, 
its  understanding,  no  doubt  powerfully  attracts 
him.  The. patient  love  of  those  who  have  awaited 


124          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

his  return  and  will  welcome  him  without  upbraid- 
ing him  is  enough.  Yet  no  doubt  the  homely  in- 
fluence of  force  of  habit  underlies  almost  every 
prodigal's  return.  He  simply  cannot  break  the 
lengthening  chain  of  right-doing  which  has  been 
forged  for  him  ever  since  he  was  a  young  child. 

Usually  the  combination  of  simplicity,  drama- 
tized activities,  patient  companionship,  a  vaca- 
tion experience  that  takes  him  to  some  distant 
place  or  reveals  another  world,  and  a  just  but 
stringent  financial  allowance,  while  retaining  the 
youth  at  home,  will  tide  him  over  this  time  of  un- 
rest until  he  awakens  to  better  sense  and  self- 
command.  Thirty  days  of  labor  voluntary  on  a 
freight  boat  in  the  Great  Lakes  quieted  one  boy. 
Indeed  it  made  him  homesick. 

In  reply  to  the  question,  "How  can  I  gain  the 
confidence  of  my  daughter?"  a  wise  mother  has 
answered,  "Never,  never  lose  it;  retain  it,  give 
sympathy,  enter  into  all  her  plans  and  sympathize 
in  all  her  trials;  these  may  seem  small  to  you,  but 
they  are  her  trials;  and  when  you  do  not  approve, 
do-  not  be  too  stern  and  drive  her  from  you;  a 
word  of  advice  and  counsel  will  do  more  good  than 
scolding  and  prohibiting." 

j  So  anxious  are  parents  and  other  adult  leaders 
both  as  to  the  good  conduct  and  the  good  reputa- 
tion of  the  young  people  in  their  charge  that  nearly 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  125 

all  need  that  admonition  which  is  required  more 
during  this  period  than  any  other:  Don't  nag. 
It  is  hard  to  endure  in  silence  the  noisy  turbulence, 
theungoverned  expressions  of  passion,  the  thought- 
less and  selfish  conduct  of  this  era,  but  the  parent 
or  leader  can  never  hold  a  large  influence  over  his 
youth  by  being  little  himself.  Do  not  descend 
to  his  level.  It  is  the  one  who  retains  a  certain 
large,  tolerant  attitude  who  reaches  that  happiest 
of  all  events,  the  time  when  the  young  man  or 
woman  actually  wants  his  counsel  and  help. 

It  is  perhaps  fortunate  that  during  adolescence 
all  boys  and  many  girls  tend  to  turn  from  their 
mothers  to  their  fathers.  Men,  because  of  their 
broader  daily  experience,  are  supposed  to  look 
at  things  in  a  larger  way,  and  the  father  who  ap- 
preciates his  privilege,  ought  at  this  time  to  be  in 
a  position  to  be  trusted  and  depended  upon  as  I 
never  before. 

ENCOURAGING  FACTORS 

There  are  some  manifestations  during  this 
period  usually  considered  trying  that  may  be  inter- 
preted as  really  what  we  like  to  call  "good  signs." 

The  youth  is  garrulous.  But  this  means  that 
he  is  confidential.  No  matter  if  the  boy  bores 
you  dreadfully  with  his  football  lingo,  or  the  girl 
with  her .  school  gossip,  be  thankful  that  they 


126          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

trust  you  so  as  to  want  to  tell  you  their  secrets. 
Never  shut  that  door. 

The  youth  is  so  susceptible  to  unworthy  com- 
panions. But  susceptibility  is  impartial.  He 
must  be  equally  susceptible  to  good  ones,  if  they 
are  as  interesting.  Help  him  to  achieve  better 
companionships.  Don't  try  to  shut  that  door. 

The  youth  is  not  studious.  Maybe  he  is  pro- 
tecting his  health  while  growing,  maybe  not. 
The  main  point  is  not,  What  is  he  getting  out  of 
school  but,  What  is  he  getting  out  of  life?  Life 
is  more  important  than  school. 

The  youth  has  such  crude  moral  conceptions. 
Crude,  but  strong.  And  did  you  never  notice 
how  true  he  is  to  the  few  conceptions  that  he  has 
succeeded  in  mastering? 

The  work  is  not  to  be  judged  till  sundown. 

There  are  some  responsibilities  that  neither 
parent  nor  teacher  are  called  upon  to  share. 

SOME  PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

Don't  Nag.  You  only  fray  the  already  over- 
strung strings.  You  numb  the  attention  so  that, 
in  self-defence,  the  children  no  longer  hear  what 
you  say. 

Don't  Snub.  It  paralyzes  the  minds  of  the 
children  and  checks  their  willingness  to  take  you 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  127 

into  their  confidence.     It  leaves  a  stinging  sense    / 
of  injustice. 

Don't  Spy.  Don't  read  your  children's  letters. 
Stop  a  correspondence  if  you  think  you  have  to 
and  are  sure  you  can,  but  do  it  because  of  what 
you  know  about  the  correspondent  and  not  be- 
cause of  what  you  have  succeeded  in  reading  of 
his  letters. 

Don't  Quell.  You  can't.  You  are  not  big 
enough.  Don't  start  what  you  can't  finish. 
If  you  could  finish  it,  you  would  finish  the  child. 
To  break  his  will  is  to  injure  his  character  per- 
manently. 

Don't  coddle.  Unless  the  children  are  really 
ill,  remember  that  they  can  stand  a  lot,  and  will 
be  the  better  for  it.  You  are  making  men  and 
women,  not  mollycoddles. 

Don't  Hurry.  "Time  will  unfold  the  calyxes 
of  gold."  Many  things  you  are  worrying  about 
to-day  will  cure  themselves  to-morrow.  Some  of 
the  best  results  that  you  desire  are  a  process  of 
years. 

"Use  your  best  mood"  as  often  as  you  can. 
Be  satisfied  with  your  own  mood  before  you  try 
it  on  the  child.  Take  more  time  to  get  into  the 
right  mood  than  you  do  to  act.  Most  things  are 
better  decided  over  night. 


128          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

RESULTS  To  BE  HOPED  FOR 

What  may  be  hoped  for  is  not  finished*  charac- 
ters, fully  matured  judgments,  perfectly  polished 
manners,  before  the  years  of  maturity.  But  one 
may  hope  for  these:  the  general  disposition  to  will 
well  and  wisely;  the  ability  of  these  young  people 
to  propel  themselves  after  the  pushing  from  be- 
hind has  ceased;  undying  affection  for  parent  or 
teacher,  coupled  with  growing  appreciation  of 
what  he  or  she  has  meant  to  them;  and  the  power 
of  handing  on  to  their  descendants  the  goodly 
heritage  of  bodily,  mental  and  moral  soundness, 
with  all  that  means  to  society  and  to  the  world. 

It  is  a  task  well  worth  all  it  costs.  The  price 
of  saving  a  prodigal  may  be  the  real  test  of  the 
adult  leader's  character. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP  STUDY 

1.  What  are  the  chief  causes  of  delinquency 
among  adolescent  young  people? 

2.  At  what  age  is  it  most  apt  to  occur? 

3.  What  are  some  of  the  influences  that  prevent 
the  developing  of  the  disposition  to  "sow  wild 
oats?" 

4.  What  is  the  influence  of  being  put  to  work? 

5.  When  should  an  incorrigible  boy  or  girl  be 
sent  off  to  school? 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  129 

6.  What  should  be  the  attitude  of  the  parent  to- 
tward  a  run-away  boy  or  girl? 

7.  What  effect  does  it  have  upon  a  boy  or  girl 
to  be  turned  over  to  the  police  and  the  juvenile 
court? 

8.  What  influences  will  bring  the  prodigal  back 
to  himself? 

9.  What    are    some    practical    suggestions    in 
dealing  with  "high-strung"  adolescents? 

10.  If  all  adolescent  boys  and  girls  had  the 
right  kind  of  homes  and  other  environmental  in- 
fluences, would  the  juvenile  courts  wholly  dis- 
appear? 


10 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CHARACTER  THROUGH  PLAY  INTERESTS 
AND  ACTIVITIES 

One  of  the  most  effective  methods  of  giving 
proper  guidance  to  the  conduct  of  adolescent  boys 
and  girls  is  that  of  helping  them  to  become  inter- 
ested in  wholesome  forms  of  play,  and  of  properly 
supervising  their  leisure-time  activities.  To  grow 
up  with  vulgar,  untrained  play  interests  or  with 
the  habit  of  spending  leisure  time  in  idleness,  is  to 
become  limited  in  moral  and  social  development. 
Suitable  forms  of  play  may  be  as  educative,  though 
in  a  different  way,  as  are  carefully  selected  courses 
of  study. 

THE  EDUCATIVE  VALUE  OF  PLAY 

"The  craving  for  amusement  is  as  fundamental 
and  irresistible  as  the  craving  for  food."  No 
parent  or  teacher  who  looks  upon  play  as  "a  more 
or  less  permissible  sin"  can  hope  to  understand 
adolescent  life  in  its  natural  richness  and  fullness. 
Play  is  a  "natural,  right  and  beautiful  expression 
of  the  human  spirit."  It  is  a  wholesome  means  of 
self-discovery.  It  awakens  a  spirit  of  optimism, 
loyalty,  co-operation  and  competition  which  are 
fundamental  in  the  building  of  character.  Prop- 
ISO 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  131 

erly  supervised  activities  during  leisure  time  can 
yield  enlarged  capacity  for  team-work,  sensitive 
appreciation  of  justice  and  fair  play,  chivalry, 
perseverance,  and  heroic  devotion. 

The  folly  of  trying  to  guide  the  moral  unfolding* 
of  adolescent  young  people  through  the  wholesale 
repression  of  their  play  instincts  is  becoming 
widely  recognized.  Any  church  or  home  or  school 
that  does  nothing  toward  the  guidance  df  these 
splendid,  God-given  play  impulses,  except  to 
offer  solemn  warnings  concerning  questionable 
amusements,  merits  both  unpopularity  and  active 
hostility  on  the  part  of  boys  and  girls  of  this  age. 
Commercialized,  professionalized  and  demoralized 
forms  of  amusements  have  multiplied  with  phe- 
nomenal rapidtiy  largely  because  this  whole  area 
of  adolescent  human  nature  has  been  either 
ignored  or  put  under  the  ban  of  suspicion  by 
parents,  teachers  and  preachers.  The  abundant 
Christian  life  during  these  years  includes  vigorous 
play  experiences.  It  is  the  part  of  wisdom  to  help 
young  people  to  make  right  choices  rather  than 
merely  to  point  out  the  dangers  of  wrong  choices.J 

Parents  in  particular  should  never  lose  sight  of 
the  fact  that  when  boys  and  girls  begin  to  move 
out  beyond  the  immediate  range  of  their  authority 
and  the  limits  of  the  home  circle,  they  are  apt  to 
make  their  first  real  contacts  with  the  larger  social 


132          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

order  through  membership  in  a  play  group.  The 
moral  ideals  that  are  reflected  in  the  leisure-time 
activities  of  these  groups  become  almost  as  binding 
as  the  law  of  the  Medes  and  Persians. 

Through  play,  young  people  can  learn  to  govern 
themselves.  The  control  of  muscular  movements 
is  one  of  the  primary  lessons  which  athletes  have 
to  learn.  Play  teaches  whole-heartedness.  The 
careless* or  indifferent  player  is  despised.  The  best 
forms  of  play  require  splendid  self-control,  keen 
interest,  sustained  attention,  accurate  knowledge, 
obedience  to  the  leader,  and  group  loyalty,  as 
well  as  physical  fitness.  Whole  areas  of  one's 
moral  nature  are  realized  when  play  ideals  are 
high.  To  make  oneself  conform  to  such  ideals 
during  leisure-time  activities  has  a  twofold  value. 
Through  preoccupation  of  time  and  strength,  it 
shuts  out  evil  influences.  It  also  gives  one  prac- 
tice in  elevating  forms  of  self-government  and 
other  forms  of  self-realization.  Such  experiences 
are  vitally  educative. 

GROUP  LOYALTY 

Boys  and  girls  who  live  alone  most  of  the  time 
and  have  very  few  friends  or  playmates  and  no 
group  games,  are  sure  to  be  backward  in  their 
social  development.  They  may  even  reach  adult- 
hood without  becoming  skilled  in  team  play  or 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  133 

developing  capacity  for  institutional  or  social 
loyalty.  Many  churches  and  other  organizations 
are  weak  because  their  adult  members,  never 
having  learned  the  lessons  of  group  play,  are 
unable  to  work  together.  Their  thoughts  and 
sentiments  are  self -centered.  They  balk  unless 
their  own  selfish  interests  are  furthered  through 
the  common  enterprise.  They  have  never  learned 
with  the  apostle  Paul,  how  to  put  away  childish 
things.  Group  games,  if  played  successfully,  in- 
volve mutual  concessions  and  other  personal  ad- 
justment. But  that  which  abides,  as  a  lasting 
benefit,  is  the  developed  capacity  to  give  oneself 
heartily  for  the  success  of  a  common  enterprise. 
To  think  as  one  of  a  group  of  individuals  and  to 
have  a  share  in  group  emotions  and  collective 
undertakings  is  to  stimulate  group  loyalty.  Thus 
out  of  adolescent  play  comes  one  of  the  most 
valuable  traits  of  good  character. 

Two  COMMON  MISTAKES 

The  shameful  trickery  adopted  by  some  work- 
ers in  using  a  temporary  or  superficial  play  pro- 
gram as  the  means  of  baiting  young  people — draw- 
ing them  within  the  range  of  the  influence  of 
leaders  whose  sole  motive  is  ecclesiastical  or  in- 
stitutional— stands  exposed  and  condemned  in  the 
light  of  the  true  purpose  of  play.  There  are  both 


13G          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Second,  during  middle  adolescence,  certain 
individuals  within  the  group  awaken  special  ap- 
preciation. They  make  an  appeal  that  is  stronger 
than  that  of  the  others.  There  is  a  sensitive  ap- 
preciation of  the  personal  influence  of  each  member 
of  the  group. 

Third,  this  social  specialization  becomes  more 
intense,  usually,  after  the  eighteenth  year.  It 
also  involves  those  of  the  opposite  sex.  This 
does  not  mean  that  the  earlier  group  loyalty 
to  the  smaller  circle  of  intimate  friends  is  aban- 
doned. These  friendships  are  conserved  and 
form  a  vital  background  for  this  higher  specializa- 
tion. Young  people  like  to  form  their  particular 
friendships  in  the  midst  of  social  occasions  when 
other  friends  are  present. 

t  Sex  consciousness  is  naturally  reflected  in  the 
play  activities  of  adolescents.  Boys  and  girls 
should  be  permitted  to  play  together  frequently 
as  groups  while  they  are  of  Scout  or  Trail  Ranger 
age.  Where  the  form  of  organization  in  the 
church  school,  the  organized  class,  can  be  pre- 
served as  the  group  units  for  play  purposes,  this 
should  be  done  and  provision  should  be  made  for 
inter-class  games  and  other  recreational  activities. 
These  inter-sex  relationships  will  naturally  be- 
come more  intense  and  specialized  as  young 
people  advance  toward  adulthood.  A  play  pro- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  137 

gram  which  does  not  make  provision  for  this  sex 
aspect  of  social  development  is  both  faulty  and 
harmful. 

NATURE  OF  ADOLESCENT  PLAY 

Whenever  the  full  range  of  play  interests  and 
impulses  is  given  expression  and  activity  is  spon- 
taneous and  free,  there  is  awakened  a  spirit  of 
adventure,  a  yearning  for  distant  realities,  a  desire 
for  high  achievement,  a  readiness  to  sacrifice  self, 
a  wholesome  interest  in  personal  appearance,  and 
personal  appreciation  of  playmates.  In  planning 
a  play  program  for  these  years,  the  leader,  whether 
he  is  parent,  teacher  or  other  adult  leader,  must 
have  an  active  imagination,  good  prudential 
judgment  and  an  all-embracing  sympathy.  Above 
all  he  must  have  the  power  to  awaken  the 
play  spirit.  The  sail-boat  or  canoe  symbolizes 
the  spirit  of  adolescent  play  as  well  as  its  dangers 
and  need  of  a  steady  hand. 

Young  people  crave  those  forms  of  play  into 
which  they  can  throw  their  whole  selves,  or  at 
least  those  portions  of  their  selves  that  have  not 
found  expression  in  study  and  other  forms  of  work. 
The  pent-up  ideals,  enthusiasms  and  loyalties, 
the  interest  in  skill,  beauty  and  power,  the  muscu- 
lar intoxication,  fondness  for  rhythm,  romance, 
and  adventure,  all  suggest  how  richly  varied  and 


138          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

intense  must  be  this  ideal  program  of  play.  Mere- 
ly to  warn  against  the  dangers  of  wrong  methods  of 
expressing  these  play  impulses  and  at  the  same 
time,  to  provide  no  adequate  substitutes  for  pop- 
ular forms  of  commercialized,  professionalized 
and  demoralized  amusement  is  to  reveal  either 
ignorance  and  incompetence  or  a  lack  of  faith  in 
adolescent  boys  and  girls. 

THE  IDEAL    PROGRAM — EARLY  ADOLESCENT 
PERIOD 

The  ideal  play  program  and  organization  for 
boys  and  girls  of  early  adolescent  age  who  belong 
to  graded  church  schools;  will  have  to  be  fashioned 
in  accordance  with  the  following  principles: 

1 .  It  will  be  more  like  an  educational  movement 
within  the  churches   than  a  preconceived  and 
closed  system  of  specific  activities  produced  in- 
dependently of  the  churches  and  handed  over  to 
them. 

2.  Its  program  will  be  so  elastic  and  its  sugges- 
tions so  varied  and  practicable,  that  it  will  be 
adaptable,  easily,  to  the  needs  of  local  churches, 
schools,  and  neighborhood  family  groups. 

3.  One  of  its  primary  concerns  will  be  that  of 
selecting  and  training  adult  leaders  who  are  loyal 
to  the  homes,  the  churches,  and  the  public  schools 
to   which  the   boys  and    girls   belong;  who  are 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  139 

capable  of  arousing  and  sustaining  the  play  spirit; 
and  whose  personalities  are  such  that  association 
with  them  will  greatly  increase  the  social,  moral, 
and  religious  inheritance  of  the  coming  generation. 

4.  Its  program  and  organization  will  be  such 
as  to  make  a  direct  and  vigorous  appeal  to  the 
natural,    spontaneous,    play    interests    of    early 
adolescent  youth.     In  this  particular  it  will  be  as 
scientifically  graded  as  the  instruction  given  in 
the  schools. 

5.  Through  it  the  entire  system  of  formal  re- 
ligious and  ethical  instruction  provided  for  this 
age  by  the  church  schools  will  be  conserved  and 
made  increasingly  influential  factors  in  the  lives 
of  the  boys  and  girls.     It  will  be  so  administered 
that  they  will  look  upon  the  church  as  the  best 
patron  of  their  play.     This  correlation  between 
instruction  and  play  will  facilitate  the  use  of 
teachers  as  supervisors  of  play. 

6.  While  there  will  have  to  be  two  distinct 
programs,  one  for  boys  and  one  for  girls,  the  two 
will  be  similar  in  the  majority  of  the  activities 
provided.     Definite  provision  will  be  made  for 
groups  of  boys  and  of  girls  to  play  together  as 
groups. 

7.  There  will  be  generous  provision  made  for 
all  sorts  of  out-door  activities.     Camping,  wood- 
craft, hiking,  trekking,  out-door  plays  and  games, 


140          THE  RELIGIONS  EDUCATION 

nature  study,  and  out-door  sports  will  awaken 
enthusiasm.  The  church  school  camp  will  be  a 
conspicuous  feature. 

8.  There    will    be    relatively    little    ritual    of 
ceremony.     A  minimum  of  formality  will  charac- 
terize the  in-door  and  out-door  meetings.     The 
emphasis  will  be  upon  varied  physical  activities 
that  appeal  to  the  imagination  and  which  other- 
wise conform  to  the  laws  of  physical  education. 

9.  The  unit  of  organization  will  be  clearly  de- 
fined, eight  being  the  most  satisfactory  number 
for  the  purpose  of  directing  multiple  behavior. 
Group  ideals  and  commonly  accepted  principles 
of  practical  ethics  will  be  made  effective  through 
group  loyalty  and  appreciation  of  the  adult  leader. 

10.  It  will  have  to  be  a  program  in  which  all  of 
the  denominations  can  co-operate,  which  con- 
serves denominational  loyalty  in  a  wholesome  way, 
and  under  the  national  leadership  of  men  and 
women  of  recognized  official  standing  within  the 
churches. 

11.  It  will  take  account  of  the  hobbies  of  in- 
dividual boys  and  girls,  imparting  much  valuable 
pre-vocational  information  and  skill. 

12.  The  use  of  a  special  uniform  or  other  sym- 
bol of  common  interests  and  loyalties  is  a  psy- 
chological necessity  growing  out  of  th'e  newly 
awakened  self -consciousness  of  early  adolescence. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  141 

13.  Its  principles  of  organization  will  be  such  as 
to  place  the  task  of  self-government  progressively 
in  the  hands  of  the  boys  and  girls  themselves. 
Thus  capacities  for  leadership  will  be  discovered 
and  realized.     The  art  of  directing  the  activities 
of  others  will   be  mastered  wherever  leadership 
capacities  exist.     Out  of  it  will  come  strong  civic 
and  religious  leaders. 

14.  Through  the  maintenance   of  distinct  de- 
partments at  National  Headquarters  and  the  em- 
ployment of  specialists,  an  invaluable  and  nation- 
wide service  will  be  rendered  in  combatting  the 
influence  of   bad  literature,  in  stimulating  good 
reading,  and  in  awakening  interest  in  clean  ath- 
letics and  other  profitable  leisure-time  activities. 

15.  The  entire  program  will  be  so  formulated 
and  administered  that  the  awakening  community 
consciousness  and  sense  of  civic  responsibility  will 
be  greatly  stimulated  and  re -enforced  by  intelli- 
gent loyalty  to  home,  church,  and  public  school — 
the  most  important  component  parts  of  the  com- 
munity. 

THE  IDEAL  PROGRAM — MIDDLE  ADOLESCENCE 

The  ideal  play  program  and  organization  for 
middle  adolescent  youths  who  belong  to  graded 
church  schools  will  recognize  the  following  prin- 


142          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

ciples  in  addition  to  those  numbered  1,  2,  3,  5,  6,  7, 
10, 11, 13, 14  in  the  above  list: 

1.  The  adult  leader  will  be  less  and  less  con- 
spicuous.    He  will  provide  for  greatly  increased 
opportunities    for    practice    in    leadership.     The 
boys  and  girls  will  be  given  greater  freedom  and 
responsibility  in  initiating  and  carrying  through 
plans  for  their  leisure  time. 

2.  Loyalty  to  the  community  will  be  a  con- 
spicuous part  of  this  program.     Rapid  increase 
in  civic  knowledge  and  skill  will  be  provided  for. 
Play,  in  many  instances,  will  merge  into  practical 
forms  of  community  civics. 

3.  This  program  and  organization  will  have  to 
be  very  distinct  from  that  provided  for  early 
adolescents.     The  Canadian  program  in  which 
boys  from  twelve  to  fourteen  years  of  age  are 
called  "Trail  Rangers"  and  those  of  fifteen  to 
seventeen  years,  "Tuxis  Boys,"  shows  great  prac- 
tical wisdom.     ("  t"  and  "  s  "  stand  for  training  for 
service;  "u"  and  "i,"  for  you  and  I;  and  "x" 
for  Christ  at  the  center.) 

4.  A  greater  amount  of  secrecy  and  formality 
and  the  "trappings  of  ritual"  will  be  included  in 
this    program.     The    well-known    popularity    of 
secret  societies  and  high  school  fraternities  is  sug- 
gestive. 

5.  Greater  attachment  between  individuals,  a 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  143 

quickened  social  imagination,  romantic  idealism, 
and  general  personal  sensitiveness  all  require  that 
mechanical  notions  of  organization  must  give 
way,  now,  to  those  that  are  more  spiritual.  Per- 
sonalities must  be  taken  into  account. 

6.  Specialization  in  play  is  also  beginning  ta 
appear.     These   young   people   tend   more    and 
more  to  select  the  types  of  recreation  that  appeal 
particularly  to  themselves  as  individuals.     There 
is  less  of  mere  common  play  interest.     The  pro- 
gram must  be  in  a  true  sense,  their  own. 

7.  Middle  adolescent  young  people  must  be 
carefully  protected  from  the  harmful  results  of  an 
excessive  program  of  leisure-time  activities.     In- 
terests are  so  personal  and  so  intense  that  it  is 
easy  for  health  to  become  permanently  injured  by 
excessive  indulgence  in  play. 

8.  The  amateur  spirit  will  be  carefully  pre- 
served in  all  athletic,  and  in  the  majority  of  the 
vocational  activities. 

PLAY  AND  RECREATION  FOR  LATER  ADOLESCENT 
YOUNG  PEOPLE 

There  are  eight  principles  that  need  to  be  recog- 
nized by  those  who  are  responsible  for  the  leisure- 
time  activities  of  young  people,  eighteen  to 
twenty-four  years  old. 

1.  Their  recreational   needs   and  interests  are 


144          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

determined  largely  by  the  social,  educational  and 
vocational  groups  to  which  they  belong.  The 
same  program  will  not  appeal  equally  to  college 
\s  students  and  mill  hands,  or  to  girls  attending  a 
finishing  school  and  those  working  in  a  depart- 
ment store.  To  be  truly  recreational,  play  activ- 
ities should  supplement  or  round  out  the  program 
of  work. 

2.  Play  must  now  be  carefully  regulated  in  the 
light  of  the  study  program  or  other  responsibili- 
ties.    Vitality    is    not    limitless.     Nervous    ex- 
haustion and  even  permanent  ill   health  is  the 
price  too  frequently  paid  for  an  excessive  play 
program  during  these  years. 

3.  To  keep  the   ethical   standards   of  the  in- 
dividual pure  and  high  now  involves  the  elevation 
of  the  current  or  popular  opinions  of  the  entire 
school  or  community.     The  boy  or  girl  who  shuns 
oddity  with  instinctive  spontaneity  and  persever- 
ance has  a  hard  time  to  hold  play  ideals  that  are 
above  those  of  "all  the  others." 

4.  The  rate  of  development — intellectual,  phys- 
ical and  social — must  be  taken  into  account.    At 
nineteen,  some   young  people  are  but  fourteen 
years  old  in  their  social  development.     An  indi- 
vidual may  be  precocious  or  belated  in  the  devel- 
opment of  any  aspect  of  his  nature.     Play,  in 
order  to  be  spontaneous  and  natural,  must  take 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  145 

into  account  the  actual  stage  of  development 
rather  than  the  mere  number  of  years  of  physical 
existence. 

5.  Social  interests  and  sentiments  now  tend  to 
become  intense  and  focussed  upon  a  few  indi- 
viduals.   This  is  the  age  of  confidences.     Love 
between  the  sexes  is  the  most  powerful  influence 
determining  the  character  of  play.    After  ten 
years  of  experience  in  supervising  the  leisure-time 
activities  of  young  people  in  a  social  settlement 
house,  a  careful  and  mature  student  of  this  ques- 
tion gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  the  most  popular 
forms  of  play  are  first,  dancing;  second,  debating 
and  dramatics. 

6.  Young  people  of  this  age  resent  what  appears 
to  them  to  be  interference  on  the  part  of  older 
people.     They  like  to  direct  their  own  affairs. 
Instinctively,  they  avoid  personal  embarrassment. 
They  enjoy  a  large  measure   of  self-direction. 
They  face  responsibility  gladly.     Achievement  is 
their    great    watchword.     If    the    supervisor    or 
chaperon  is  tactful  and  has  an  abundance  of  com- 
mon   sense,    however,    his    services    are    keenly 
appreciated. 

7.  Play  is  now  so  permeated  with  the  spirit  of 
altruism  and  practical  idealism  that  often  it  takes 
the  form  of  serious  endeavor.     This  play  spirit 
is  naturally  carried  over  into  the  field  of  actual 


146          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

toil.  Abounding  energy  and  sense  of  mastery 
are  dominant  even  in  the  closing  hours  of  a  hard 
day's  work.  For  these  young  people  to  succumb 
to  a  spirit  of  drudgery  and  mere  routine  fidelity  is 
unnatural. 

8.  Play  of  some  appropriate  kind  is  necessary 
to  keep  life  from  growing  old  prematurely.     Peo- 
ple grow  old  because  they  cease  to  play,  rather 
than  cease  to  play  because  they  grow  old. 

9.  The  play  program  for  these  years  should 
involve  consecutive,  cumulative  interest.     Plans 
should   be  laid  that  involve  several  weeks   or 
months    of   uninterrupted   activity   or    interest. 
They  should  cover  an  entire  season.     When  plans 
are  laid  in  the  Fall  for  a  dramatic  or  other  pro- 
duction to  be  presented  in  the  Spring,  there  is  no 
break  in  the  interest  of  the  young  people;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  it  increases  in  intensity  through 
the  months. 

10.  The  best  kinds  of  play  are  those  that  have  a 
direct  bearing  upon  the  outlook  into  the  immedi- 
ate future.     These  are  the  golden  years  of  prep- 
aration for  civic,  social,  economic  responsibility. 
Hence,  the  play  program  should  be  supervised  by 
those  permanent  institutions  to  which  the  life- 
long loyalty  of  these  young  people  should  go  out, 
and  which  will  conserve  the  abiding  influence  of 
their  lives. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  147 

SOME  PRACTICAL  SUGGESTIONS 

The  primary  responsibility  of  adult  supervisors 
of  play  or  leisure-time  activities  is  to  help  the  boys 
and  girls  to  get  into  a  happy,  playful  mental 
condition.  When  pleasurable  emotions  are  upper- 
most, the  problem  of  finding  suitable  games  or 
other  play  programs  is  simplified. 

A  definite  program  should  always  be  mapped 
out.  Idleness  or  aimless  activity  is  not  play. 
"Work  well  done  is  the  best  of  fun."  The  gang 
of  loafers  standing  on  the  street-corner  do  not 
have  as  enjoyable  a  time  as  do  those  with  a  defin- 
ite plan  to  be  carried  through.  A  so-called 
hike  is  no  hike  at  all  unless  it  takes  the  hikers  to  a 
certain  place  and  for  a  specific  purpose. 

Adolescent  boys  and  girls  should  never  get  the 
notion  that  for  the  best  kinds  of  play,  they  must 
go  beyond  the  active  interest  and  range  of  the 
home,  church  and  school.  The  responsibility 
for  play  activities  is  coming  to  rest  definitely 
upon  the  church  school.  This  responsibility 
should  not  be  shirked.  These  boys  and  girls 
should  come  to  the  conviction  that  there  is  no 
fundamental  antagonism  between  the  church's 
system  of  formal  religious  instruction  and  its  plans 
for  their  play. 

Leadership  in  play  and  recreation  comes  only  as 
the  result  of  careful  study  and  training.  It  is  not 


148          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

everybody's  business.  It  involves  an  art,  a  tech- 
nique that  is  clearly  defined  and  which  should  be 
patiently  mastered  before  large  responsibility  is 
assumed. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP  STUDY 

1 .  What  are  some  of  the  moral  benefits  resulting 
from  wholesome  play? 

2.  Why  is  it  dangerous  to  try  to  repress  the 
play  spirit  of  adolescent  boys  and  girls? 

3.  Point  out  the  responsibility  of  the  church 
for  the  amusement  and  recreation  of  its  young 
people. 

4.  Why  is  it  wrong  to  use  play  merely  as  a 
means  of  recruiting  the  church  school? 

5.  What  is  the  responsibility  of  the  home  in  this 
regard? 

6.  When  is  it  wrong  for  young  people  to  dance? 

7.  What  are  the  chief  characteristics  of  play 
during  early  adolescence? 

8.  Middle  adolescence? 

9.  What  eight  principles  should  be  recognized 
in  planning  a  play  program  for  later  adolescents? 

10.  Why  should  the   churches  of  each  com- 
munity   co-operate    in    providing   a    joint   play 
program  for  all  the  people? 

11.  Point  out  some  practical  suggestions  for 
leaders  of  recreational  activities. 


CHAPTER  IX 

PRINCIPLES  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 
FOR  EARLY  ADOLESCENCE 

The  entire  task  of  religious  education  during 
the  years  twelve,  thirteen  and  fourteen  may  be 
summarized  briefly  in  the  following  ten  laws: 

I.  THE  LAW  OF  THE  EXPANDING  LIFE 

During  these  years  there  is  a  remarkable  in- 
crease of  newly  awakened  instincts,  interests,  de- 
sires, and  impulses.  In  this  rapidly  broadening 
and  deepening  current  of  experience,  are  found 
yearning  for  personal  expression  and  apprecia- 
tion, joy  in  escape  from  the  commonplace — from 
merely  routine  or  habitual  living,  desire  to  belong 
to  a  social  group,  interest  in  the  simplest  forms  of 
leadership,  love  of  adventure,  ready  appreciation 
of  humor,  hunger  for  varied  sensuous  experience, 
keen  delight  in  rhythmical  muscular  movements 
and  in  skillful  achievements,  readiness  to  enter 
into  competition  or  into  co-operation,  yearning  for 
distant  realities,  fondness  for  books  that  picture 
thrilling  situations,  appreciation  of  aesthetic 
values.  A  flood-tide  of  new  interests  has  set  in. 
Habits  are  broken  up.  It  is  the  time  of  the  soul's 
overflow. 

149 


150          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

After  a  rain,  the  clay  road  on  a  country  hillside 
is  deeply  cut  with  grooves  made  by  the  wagon- 
wheels.  These  deep  grooves  harden  with  the 
returning  sunlight  and  dry  winds.  Then  comes  a 
heavy  shower.  For  a  time,  the  water  is  readily 
carried  off  by  running  in  the  courses  made  by  the 
wagon-wheels  in  the  plastic  clay.  But  as  the 
volume  of  water  is  increased,  the  grooves  become 
full  and  overflow.  Then  it  is  that  new  courses  are 
cut  and  finally  a  large  channel  is  worn  in  the  high- 
way. Habits,  like  these  ruts,  are  capable  of  car- 
rying the  current  of  life  during  later  childhood. 
But  with  the  coming  adolescence,  life  overflows 
them  and  many  are  swept  aside  by  the  deepening 
current. 

Christianity  is  the  religion  of  the  abundant  life. 
Christ  came  that  these  boys  and  girls  might  have 
adolescent  life  in  abundance.  Religion  must 
therefore  expand  with  this  expanding  life.  Re- 
ligious habits,  such  as  church  attendance,  daily 
prayer  and  Bible  reading  are  put  under  a  heavy 
strain  to  hold  these  new  spiritual  out-reachings. 
The  forms,  customs  and  regulations  of  childhood 
should  now  become  elastic. 

II.  THE  LAW  OF  TRANSITION 

Help  these  boys  and  girls  to  make  the  transition 
from  external  to  internal  moral  control;  from 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  151 

implicit  obedience  to  external  authority  to  that  of 
conscientious  self -guidance;  from  habit,  guided 
by  the  approval  or  disapproval  of  parents  or  other 
adult  leaders,  to  habit  built  up  through  spontane- 
ous desire  and  voluntary  choices.  During  this 
transition,  however,  let  there  be  no  decrease  in 
the  honor  or  respect  shown  to  parents  and  to  all  that 
is  worthy  in  family  traditions  and  home  influences. 

These  are  the  years  when  boys  and  girls  are 
neither  children  nor  youths.  They  are  in  a  transi- 
tory stage.  Many  of  the  marks  of  childhood  are 
still  upon  them,  but  there  is  an  up-reaching,  an 
independence,  a  restlessness  of  mind  and  body 
which  indicate  the  dawning  of  youthful  qualities. 
They  are  too  young  to  proceed  upon  the  assump- 
tion that  they  can  disregard  the  counsel  and 
wishes  of  parents.  Yet  parents  should  give  them 
a  larger  measure  of  self -direction. 

It  is  positively  dangerous  from  the  standpoint  1 
of  moral  development  for  a  fourteen  year  old 
or  girl  to  get  the  notion  that  self-will  should  be 
regarded  in  preference  to  every  other  will.    If  the 
new  sense  of  freedom  is  overstimulated  and  the 
parental  or  other  adult  will  is  defied  or  deliber- 
ately ignored,  it  is  easy  to  begin  a  career  of  in- 
corrigibility,  lawlessness,  and  even  of  crime.    To 
refer  to  father  as  "the  old  man"  is  to  reflect  a 
state  of  mind  that  should  be  set  aside  for  one 


152          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

showing  proper  regard  for  a  will  and  moral  judg- 
ment superior  to  one's  own.  To  sustain  their 
filial  devotion  takes  much  of  the  crisis  out  of  these 
critical  years. 

The  most  prevalent  weaknesses  to  be  guarded 
against  are  flippancy,  carelessness,  irreverence, 
unkindness,  recklessness,  impatience,  and  exag- 
geration. The  new  sense  of  freedom  is  apt  to 
carry  them  too  far.  There  is  a  tendency  to  dis- 
card old  things  before  those  things  have  ceased 
to  be  useful.  In  this  state  of  mind,  respect  for 
proper  authority  easily  slips  away. 

Ill,  THE  LAW  OF  THE  CREATIVE  IMAGINATION 

The  imagination  of  early  adolescence  is  far  more 
active  than  in  the  preceding  years.  It  is  re-en- 
forced by  the  new  desires,  impulses,  interests,  and 
emotions  which  are  now  awakened.  It  has  the 
power  to  reassemble  the  mental  pictures  that  have 
had  their  origin  in  actual  experience.  But  these 
new  pictures  and  visions  have  their  setting  in  the 
midst  of  warm  emotions  and  vigorous  impulses. 
They  have  more  substance  and  a  greater  amount 
of  originality.  The  early  adolescent  imagination 
is  creative. 

This  splendid  power  of  the  mind  moves  out 
instinctively  along  several  lines  but  chiefly  in  the 
direction  of  that  which  is  motor  and  social.  Phys- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  153 

ical  achievements  that  awaken  the  praise  of  the 
other  members  of  the  gang  or  that  surpass  the 
record  which  some  one  else  had  made  are  the 
sources  of  real  pleasure.  Ideals  of  both  skill  and 
endurance  are  held  vividly  before  the  mind.  Like- 
wise the  stories  of  heroes,  adventurers,  and  mis- 
sionaries make  a  profound  appeal.  There  is  an 
almost  intuitive  appreciation  of  the  kinds  of  con- 
duct that  will  awaken  the  admiration  of  others  of 
one's  own  kind. 

Guide  the  moral  imagination  of  these  boys  and 
girls  directly  toward  the  transcendent  Jesus 
Christ.  Let  Him  be  the  ultimate  concrete  reality 
in  which  their  moral  idealism  finally  rests;  let 
them  feel  that  higher  than  He,  there  are  no 
values.  Provide  practice  in  those  forms  of  devo- 
tion which  strengthen  the  personal  bonds  be- 
tween them  and  Jesus,  their  friend  and  hero.  To 
"this  end,  as  far  as  possible,  simplify  the  religious 
organizations  which  provide  programs  of  study, 
worship  and  expressional  activities.  Encourage 
those  forms  of  service  in  which  the  moral  imagina- 
tion influenced  or  standardized  by  admiration  of 
Jesus  can  find  adequate  expression. 

IV.  THE  LAW  OF  THE  READING  CRAZE 

The  so-called  reading  craze  reaches  its  point  of 
greatest  intensity  at  about  the  fourteenth  year. 


154          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

If  an  abundance  of  interesting  books  are  available, 
the  average  boy  or  girl  will  then  spend  more  time 
in  reading  than  in  any  other  form  of  leisure-time 
occupation.  An  abundance  of  biography  and 
fiction  saturated  with  human  values  and  breath- 
ing the  spirit  of  adventure,  loyalty,  heroism  and 
chivalry  should  be  placed  in  their  hands.  Culti- 
vate in  them  a  taste  for  the  best  literature.  The 
right  kind  of  books  can  be  used  to  strengthen 
memory,  stimulate  social  imagination,  quicken 
wholesome  impulses,  enrich  the  emotional  life, 
disengage  moral  energy,  provide  spiritual  insight. 
Clothe  all  religious  instruction,  therefore,  with 
life — active,  heroic,  throbbing,  divine  life.  For 
it  is  imagination  that  stimulates  imagination; 
sympathy  nourishes  sympathy.  At  the  time  of 
the  soul's  overflow,  there  shall  be  intimate  famil- 
iarity with  the  biographies  of  those  great  char- 
acters whose  souls  had  the  mature  power  of  over- 
flow. 

But  the  other  side  of  this  question  needs  most 
serious  consideration.  A  few  years  ago,  cheap, 
degrading  books  circulated  rather  freely,  though 
often  in  a  clandestine  way,  among  boys  and  girls 
of  this  age.  The  day  of  the  "dime  novel"  is  past, 
however,  for  the  motion  picture  shows  are  gather- 
ing in  so  many  of  the  dimes.  This  same  trash, 
fearfully  injurious  to  the  imagination,  positively 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  155 

harmful  in  its  influence  upon  moral  judgments 
and  religious  sentiments,  has  now  reappeared  in 
thirty-five  cent  and  fifty-cent  editions  and  is  pur- 
chased as  gifts  by  adults  who  are  ignorant  of  the 
nature  of  their  contents.  Some  of  them  are  found 
in  church  school  libraries  and  many  department 
stores  handle  them  in  large  quantities.  Eternal 
vigilance  is  the  only  price  of  safety  from  their 
damaging  effects. 

V.  THE  LAW  OF  THE  PLAY  LIFE 

Play  is  best  understood  as  those  forms  of  ac- 
tivity in  which  the  mind,  while  controlled  by 
pleasurable  emotions,  finds  expression  without 
serious  difficulty.  If  people  are  happy,  they  tend 
to  play.  The  early  adolescent  mind  is  so  full  of 
enthusiasm,  optimism,  confidence,  and  eager  an- 
ticipation that  it  is  very  apt  to  express  itself  in 
some  form  of  play.  That  is,  play  becomes  a  most 
vital  factor  during  these  years. 

Provide  a  suitable  all-the-year-round  program 
of  recreation  and  tactfully  administer  it.  Boys 
and  girls  can  now  play  together  with  great  profit 
if  they  have  proper  supervision  and  play  together 
as  groups.  For  one  or  two  weeks,  live  with  them 
in  the  church  school  camp.  Here  let  all  whole- 
some play  impulses  have  fullest  expression  with- 
out the  suggestion  that  Christian  ideals  are  there- 


156          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

by  violated.  Let  the  church  be  the  best  patron  of 
their  play.  Do  not  let  them  arrive  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  in  order  to  find  the  best,  the  most  ap- 
pealing play  or  amusement,  they  must  go  beyond 
the  program  and  influence  of  the  church  and 
church  school. 

It  is  expected  that  our  adolescent  boys  and 
girls  will  develop  increasingly  substantial  loyalty 
to  their  churches.  But  it  is  frequently  forgotten 
that  this  loyalty  must  be  nourished  by  experi- 
ences yielding  a  maximum  of  pleasure.  It  is  dif- 
ficult for  young  people  to  be  increasingly  loyal  to 
an  institution  that  does  not  minister  to  their 
whole  lives — to  every  part  of  their  natures.  Their 
sense  of  value  unconsciously  unfolds  in  an  atmos- 
phere which  kindles  pleasurable  emotions. 

VI.  THE  LAW  OF  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP 
SERVICE 

The  budding  altruism  of  early  adolescence 
needs  to  be  guided  into  simple  and  practical  forms 
of  service.  The  habit  of  the  daily  good  turn, 
supported  by  religious  motives  and  free  from  a 
spirit  of  self-righteousness,  should  be  built  up  dur- 
ing these  years.  In  providing  awards  or  recogni- 
tion for  such  service,  have  a  care  not  to  injure  or 
contaminate  what  should  be  the  pure  altruistic 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  157 

motive.  Diligently  avoid  whatever  tends  to  stim- 
ulate a  spirit  of  Phariseeism. 

The  suggestion  of  William  James:  "Strike 
while  the  iron  is  hot "  is  especially  pertinent  in  this 
regard.  Every  adult  Christian  should  have  as 
his  permanent  possession  a  state  of  mind  which 
naturally,  easily,  habitually  finds  expression  in 
service  to  others.  The  most  strategic  and  educa- 
tionally economical  time  for  the  establishment  of 
this  habit  is  while  the  youth  is  socially  sensitive, 
instinctively  interested  in  the  welfare  of  others. 
Practice  in  being  of  service  is  easier  and  much  more 
pleasant  if  it  is  part  of  the  recognized  program 
of  a  social  group  in  which  membership  is  held. 

If  the  Church  needs  mature  members  who  are 
habitually  generous,  self-sacrificing,  and  loyal,  it 
should  make  provision  for  its  young  people  to 
have  practice  in  these  virtues  during  that  period 
when  practice  will  have  the  greatest  influence  in 
permanently  molding  character.  The  splendid 
group  loyalties  of  early  adolescence  make  it  re- 
latively easy  for  these  boys  and  girls  to  give 
themselves  freely  in  service  to  others. 

VII.  THE  LAW  OF  CONSCIENCE 

The  most  important  moral  task  which  the  child 
faces  during  the  first  dozen  years  of  his  life  is  that 
of  building  a  conscience.  The  material  out  of 


158          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

which  he  builds  it  is  the  moral  judgments  of  his 
parents,  teachers,  and  others  who  help  him  to 
control  and  to  guide  his  conduct.  If  they  are 
consistent,  certain  moral  preferences  will  be  estab- 
lished within  his  own  mind. 

Equipped  with  these  preferences  for  certain 
kinds  of  behavior,  the  child  passes  over  into  the 
period  of  youth.  The  task  of  moral  self -direction 
or  guidance  is  now  taken  up.  He  is  conscious  of 
the  fact  that  some  kinds  of  conduct  yield  pleas- 
ure and  others,  pain  or  annoyance.  He  feels  the 
former  to  be  righteous  and  the  latter,  sinful.  The 
voice  of  conscience  is  recognized  as  the  voice  of 
God. 

But  life  is  now  so  enlarged  that  this  newly 
functioning  conscience  has  difficulty  in  deciding 
all  of  the  moral  questions  that  arise.  For  each  of 
these  boys  and  girls,  therefore,  provide  the  help 
that  comes  from  intimate  association  with  a  man 
or  woman  whose  Christian  conduct  is  set  in  heroic 
mould,  whose  own  religious  life  retains  its  adoles- 
cent qualities,  who  incarnates  their  personal  ideals. 
Beyond  this,  arrange  for  frank,  personal  confer- 
ences in  order  to  help  them  solve  the  innumerable 
practical  problems  of  everyday,  Christ-like  living 
and  service.  If  their  home  and  school  environ- 
ment offer  little  direct  help  and  encouragement 
in  solving  these  problems,  redouble  thy  diligence. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  159 

Provide  wise  answers  to  such  questions  as  "Can 
a  person  be  a  Christian  and  .  .  .  ?"  Dili- 
gently avoid  the  inculcation  of  that  unnatural, 
extreme  spirituality  that  will  cause  them  finally 
either  to  enter  a  monastery  or  convent.  Do  not 
pitch  conscience  in  too  high  a  key. 

Guard  also  against  pitching  it  in  too  low  a  key. 
Moral  carelessness  or  looseness  is  most  damaging 
during  the  years  twelve  to  sixteen  or  seventeen. 
To  fail  to  possess  a  wholesome  and  sensitive  con-  ^ 
science  at  the  time  when  later  adolescence  is 
reached  is  most  dangerous. 

VIII.  THE  LAW  OF  REPENTANCE  AND  CONFESSION 

During  these  years,  conscience  is  tender  and 
inexperienced.  The  power  of  consistent  moral 
self-control  has  not  yet  been  acquired.  Errors  in 
judgment  and  in  action  are  inevitable  even  under 
the  most  favorable  circumstances.  Carefully 
guard  early  adolescent  boys  and  girls  from  temp- 
tation. 

But  if,  by  any  chance,  sin  should  appear  in 
their  lives,  give  thy  utmost  dilligence  to  teach 
them  the  sweet  exercise  of  repentance  and  con- 
fession. Do  not  let  the  memories  of  sinful  actions 
lie  buried  in  the  mind  as  permanent  annoy ers. 
Moral  perspective  is  injured  by  it.  Show  them 
how  to  secure  divine  forgiveness.  Help  them  to 


160          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

enjoy  the  relief  which  Christ,  the  Saviour,  offers 
to  the  penitent  mind.  Save  them  from  the  moral 
misery  and  mental  wretchedness  of  arrival  at  ma- 
turity without  having  acquired  the  power  to  re- 
pent and  to  clear  the  mind  of  a  gnawing  sense  of 
sin. 

IX.  THE  LAW  OF  CHURCH  MEMBERSHIP 

At  this  time  when  there  is  an  instinctive  de- 
sire to  belong  to  social  groups,  the  psychological 
foundation  of  church  membership  is  provided. 
No  boy  or  girl  should  pass  through  the  period  of 
early  adolescence  without  having  the  privilege  of 
satisfying  this  natural  desire  to  unite  with  the 
church.  The  high  spiritual  ideals  of  the  church 
are  not  a  barrier  now  as  they  will  be  if  membership 
is  deferred  until  adulthood  shall  have  been 
reached.  It  is  a  definite  part  of  the  adult  leader's 
responsibility  to  awaken  and  strengthen  the  desire 
for  fellowship  within  an  organized  group  of  fol- 
lowers of  Jesus  Christ. 

Give  such  explanations  of  the  common  beliefs, 
ceremonials  and  practices  of  this  holy  institution 
as  will  make  membership  within  it  meaningful, 
helpful,  joyful.  These  boys  and  girls  should  now 
begin  to  grow  into  the  common  beliefs  and  prac- 
tices of  the  church  rather  than  be  permitted  to 
form  erratic  or  arbitrary  beliefs  arid  attitudes 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  161 

which  will  greatly  increase  the  practical  difficul- 
ties of  their  joining  the  church  in  later  years. 

It  is  of  special  advantage  that  this  desire  to 
identify  oneself  with  the  organized  forms  of  Chris- 
tianity have  the  hearty  approval  of  parents.  In 
those  cases  where  parents  object,  it  will  usually 
be  found  that  they  do  not  fully  understand  the 
advantages  that  will  come  to  their  child  if  he 
takes  this  important  step. 

X.  THE  LAW  OF  THE  FULLER  LIFE 

Early  adolescent  loyalty  to  the  church  school 
and  the  church,  to  parents  and  other  members  of 
the  family,  to  the  public  school,  and  to  the  play 
group  directed  by  leaders  who  are  themselves 
loyal  to  Christ  and  His  Church,  constitute  the 
best  preparation  for  the  years  of  storm  and  stress 
which  follow  immediately.  A  balanced  program 
of  activities  leads  in  the  direction  of  a  balanced 
character.  Leisure-time  occupations  should  be 
consistent  with  and  re-enforce  the  lessons  in- 
cluded in  the  program  of  formal  religious  instruc- 
tion. It  is  the  one  who,  himself,  is  living  the  fuller 
life  who  can  appreciate  the  personal  qualities  of 
a  hero  like  Paul  or  Moses  or  Elijah.  In  develop- 
ing along  the  lines  of  the  four-fold  standard,  it 
will  be  discovered  that  body  helps  mind  no  less 
than  mind  helps  body;  that  religion  helps  both 

12 


162          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

as   well   as   purifies   and   strengthens   the   social 
nature. 

This  fuller  life  comes  as  the  result  of  youth's 
endeavor  to  realize  the  ideal.  Imagination  is 
active.  Present  attainments  do  not  satisfy. 
There  is  an  inevitable  up-reaching  and  out-reach- 
ing that  is  satisfied  only  by  a  sense  of  the  expan- 
sion of  life.  It  is  the  time  of  "  strikingly  pure  ideal- 
ism." There  is  a  genuine  interest  in  victory  over 
weaknesses  or  discovery  through  new  and  en- 
larging experience.  It  is  not  only  the  body  but 
also  the  spirit  that  is  restless  and  eager  to  grow. 
With  Saint  Augustine,  the  early  adolescent  can 
truly  say:  Thou  hast  made  us  for  Thyself  and 
our  hearts  are  restless  till  they  rest  in  Thee.  Re- 
ligion is  now  personal.  Life  takes  on  its  natural 
richness  and  fullness  only  when  it  comes  into  vital 
possession  of  the  truths  that  have  nourished  the 
lives  of  heroes  and  saints. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP  STUDY 

1.  If  an  early  adolescent  boy  or  girl  wants  to 
become  a  member  of  a  church  and  the  parents  are 
unwilling,  should  membership  in  the  church  be 
postponed  or  denied? 

2.  Under  what  circumstances  is  it  right  for  a 
thirteen-year  old  to  be  disobedient  to  his  parents? 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  163 

3.  In  what  ways  does  life  expand  during  this 
period? 

4.  Point  out  some  of  the  physical,  mental  and 
social  differences  between  a  normal  ten-year-old 
boy  and.  the  same  boy  three  years  later. 

5.  Why  is  suitable  recreation  especially  import- 
ant during  early  adolescence? 

6.  Explain  the  educational  value  of  the  "read- 
ing craze"  if  properly  directed. 

7.  Why  does  the  character  of  Jesus  make  a 
special  appeal  to  early  adolescent  young  people? 

8.  Discuss  the  practical  problems  of  every-day 
Christian  living  during  the  years  twelve,  thirteen 
and  fourteen. 

9.  Why  is  it  dangerous  for  these  young  people 
to  violate  conscience? 

10.  Why  is  membership  in  a  church  a  Vital 
spiritual  need  of  this  period  of  development? 


CHAPTER  X 

PRINCIPLES  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 
FOR  MIDDLE  ADOLESCENCE 

I.  THE  LAW  OF  THE  INTEGRATING  PERSONALITY 

The  period  of  the  awakening  personality  is  fol- 
lowed by  that  of  the  integrating  personality. 
During  middle  adolescence,  the  youth  faces  the 
task  of  assembling  all  of  the  desires,  sentiments, 
ideals,  impulses,  habits,  preferences,  loyalties,  in- 
terests— all  of  the  parts  of  his  personality  which 
he  has  realized  during  the  preceding  years.  He 
must  find  and  cherish  the  true  center  of  his  own 
selfhood.  Centripedal  forces  are  at  work.  He 
needs  to  discover  some  method  of  achieving  integ- 
rity or  a  plan  of  organizing  all  of  the  component 
parts  of  his  character.  The  parts  must  be  as- 
sembled according  to  some  plan. 

It  is  because  his  religion  is  the  supreme  value — 
the  natural  center  around  which  all  else  should  be 
organized — that  religious  education  is  so  important 
during  these  years.  Any  attempt  to  integrate  all 
of  the  parts  about  some  other  center  such  as  pleas- 
ure or  a  career,  group  loyalty  or  chivalry,  will  fail 
to  bring  ultimate  harmony,  simplicity  and  great- 
est strength. 

164 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  165 

II.  THE  LAW  OF  A  SINGLE  LOYALTY 

It  is  only  by  maintaining  one's  loyalty  to  the 
religious  loyalties  of  the  preceding  period  that  this 
personal  integration  can  be  safely  achieved.  "  Wilt 
thou  be  made  whole"  is  the  inescapable  challenge 
of  religion  to  this  life.  It  is  impossible  to  be  loyal 
to  one's  religion  and  also  to  a  social  group  that  is 
avowedly  irreligious.  Guard  against  any  attempt 
to  organize  the  personality  around  two  standards 
of  value.  Numberless,  practical,  personal  diffi- 
culties arise  when  a  twofold  center  of  life  is 
attempted.  Simplicity  and  absolute  sincerity  are 
the  very  essence  of  moral  integrity.  "If  thine  eye 
be  single,  thy  whole  body  shall  be  full  of  light." 
There  should  be  one  consistent  attitude  toward 
all  things.  Character  is  a  circle.  It  has  but  one 
center.  It  is  not  an  hyperbola,  having  two  centers. 

The  beginning  of  the  dissociation  of  piety  from 
goodness,  and  religion  from  morality  usually  takes 
place  during  these  middle  adolescent  years.  Par- 
tial consecration  to  the  Jesus  ideal  leaves  room  for 
antagonisms  to  spring  up  within  one's  self.  As 
each  opposing  loyalty  becomes  more  firmly  estab- 
lished, a  dual  life  proceeds  from  them.  Member- 
ship in  the  church  is  no  longer  a  guarantee  of 
moral  integrity  in  business  or  social  life.  Con- 
science becomes  habitually  violated  in  some  par- 
ticulars. 


166          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

\        III.  THE  LAW  OF  CONVERSION 

If  a  false  or  a  dual  center  of  personality  has  been 
adopted,  conversion  becomes  necessary  and  im- 
perative. Conversion  may  involve  a  renewal  of 
one's  loyalty  to  a  previous  loyalty,  temporarily 
abandoned.  Or  it  may  be  concerned  chiefly  with 
the  vigorous  and  final  rejection  or  overthrow  of  a 
desire,  an  interest,  or  a  habit  that  is  unworthy  but 
which  has  been  competing  for  the  place  of  suprem- 
acy. The  enthronement  of  self-will  or  the  sweep- 
ing rejection  of  all  external  authority  in  early 
adolescence,  often  lays  the  foundation  for  a  spirit- 
ual crisis  in  the  following  period. 

This  experience  of  conversion  during  middle 
adolescence,  usually  affects  the  feelings  profoundly. 
It  will  never  again  take  place  with  as  little  diffi- 
culty and  personal  pain.  Therefore,  see  to  it  that 
any  early  tendency  toward  false  or  unworthy  in- 
tegration of  the  self  is  now  brought  to  an  end. 
Life  is  still  so  plastic  that  conversion  can  take 
place  without  loss  of  those  fundamental  elements 
out  of  which  mature  Christian  character  is  built. 
In  later  periods,  all  is  not  salvable.  Only  a  partial 
realization  of  the  true  self  is  possible. 

IV.  THE  LAW  OF  ADOLESCENT  MYSTICISM 

The  religious  life  is  now  dominantly  emotional. 
It  is  less  impulsive  than  it  was  and  less  critical 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  167 

than  it  will  be  later  on.  Feelings  are  easily  aroused. 
Sentiments  come  and  go  like  the  ceaseless  tides  of 
the  ocean.  Religion  is  taken  to  heart.  The  higher 
types  of  mysticism  contain  a  message  particularly 
suited  to  the  needs  of  this  life.  The  practice  of  the 
presence  of  God  is  a  wholesome,  natural  exercise. 
Meditation  and  introspection  are  frequent.  There 
is  a  longing  for  personal  fellowship  with  God. 
Original,  first-hand,  immediate  awareness  of  His 
presence  brings  supreme  satisfaction. 

Therefore,  provide  an  abundance  of  sensory  ex- 
periences that  are  religiously  meaningful.  There 
is  special  appreciation  of  art,  music,  architecture 
and  ceremonial.  Religious  experience  should  now 
have  that  fervency  and  glow  that  is  so  frequently 
seen  in  the  young  people's  devotional  meeting. 
Music  is  the  religious  language  especially  of  the 
middle  adolescent  heart. 

But  guard  against  overstimulation.  Many  an 
adult  who  is  unreasonable  in  his  attitude  toward 
the  sacredness  of  the  Lord's  Day  or  foolishly 
alarmed  at  a  reasonable  theory  of  the  inspiration 
of  the  Bible  is  simply  the  victim  of  emotional 
extravagance  or  mystical  excesses  during  middle 
adolescence,  the  harmful  results  of  which  have 
never  been  corrected.  Religious  excesses  during 
these  years  are  apt  to  result  in  the  young  person's 
becoming  either  an  incurable  crank  or  a  confirmed 


168          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

scoffer  Guard  also  against  that  other  danger, 
flippant  irreverence  and  other  emotional  forms  of 
irreligion. 

It  is  during  these  years  that  the  value  of  the 
Bible,  the  church  with  its  sacraments  and  services, 
and  private  devotions  are  rediscovered.  They 
come  to  have  a  vital,  personal  meaning.  The 
middle  adolescent  is  not  merely  forming  religious 
habits  or  storing  his  mind  with  religious  truth. 
He  is  literally  feeding  upon  the  Bread  of  Life. 
His  communion  in  prayer  is  actually  social  inter- 
course with  God.  He  has  a  religious  experience 
that  is  his  own. 

V.  THE  LAW  OF  ARDENT,  ORGANIZED  ENDEAVOR 

This  warm  religious  experience  finds  expression 
naturally  in  ardent  forms  of  service.  Spiritual 
visions  and  religious  ecstasies  need  the  hardening, 
solidifying  effects  which  come  from  practical  effort. 
Fervent  devotion  is  passionately  expressive.  Im- 
pulses to  serve  are  now  re-enforced  by  emotion. 
All  of  one's  personal  resources  are  apt  to  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  task  in  hand.  Self  is  not 
spared.  Hardships  are  not  occasions  of  discour- 
agement. Tasks  are  now  undertaken  by  social 
groups  as  well  as  by  individuals.  These  efforts, 
however,  come  to  their  fullest  flower  within  social 
groups  organized  to  render  actual  service. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  169 

In  order  to  have  the  greatest  value,  these  plans 
for  rendering  service  should,  for  the  most  part,  be 
worked  out  by  the  young  people  themselves. 
Adult  leadership  is  not  resented  if  it  is  tactful  and 
makes  large  provision  for  independent  action.  In 
these  groups  that  have  a  common  religious  loyalty 
and  plans  for  giving  expression  to  that  loyalty, 
both  boys  and  girls  can  meet  together.  At  times, 
however,  they  will  wish  to  act  separately.  These 
wishes  should  not  be  interfered  with. 

It  is  natural  that  the  service  impulses  now  take 
the  direction  of  the  improvement  of  the  commu- 
nity in  which  one  lives.  Civic  consciousness  is  a 
marked  characteristic  of  middle  adolescent  social 
consciousness.  The  welfare  of  all  the  people  in  a 
given  community,  one's  home  town,  makes  a  pro- 
found appeal  to  their  altruism  and  to  that  outlook 
which  now  transcends  a  particular  church  or 
denomination  and  comes  to  appreciate  all  human 
life.  Community  civics,  housing,  industrial  basis, 
transportation,  health,  sanitation,  and  other  sim- 
ilar subjects,  if  properly  presented,  awaken  an 
immediate  response,  challenging  both  study  and 
endeavor. 

VI.  THE  LAW  OF  FRIENDSHIP  AND  ROMANCE 

The  desire  to  hold  membership  in  a  group  no 
longer  comprises  the  entire  demand  for  social 


170          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

experience.  Tender  sentiments  weave  themselves 
around  individuals.  There  is  a  ready  appreciation 
of  personal  traits  of  character.  It  is  the  time  of 
romance.  There  is  yearning  for  ideal  friendship. 
One's  dependence  upon  others  to  complete  the 
circle  of  one's  own  life  or  to  supplement  one's  own 
personality  is  felt.  "Love  affairs,"  that  for  the 
time  fill  the  entire  horizon  of  thought  and  devo- 
tion, may  suddenly  spring  up  within  a  life  that 
had  seemed  to  be  immune. 

To  provide  a  social  environment  made  up  of 
young  people  whose  fidelity  to  religious  ideals  is 
unquestioned  and  whose  personal  influence  there- 
fore is  spiritually  wholesome  is  a  vital  part  of  a 
program  of  religious  education  suited  to  these 
years.  A  wide  acquaintance  among  young  people 
having  rich  personalities  and  moral  integrity  of 
character  will  tend  to  elevate  and  refine  the 
youth's  social  ideals.  It  provides  the  only  safe 
environment  in  which  the  parental  instinct  can 
ripen.  There  is  no  complete  guarantee,  however, 
that  temporary  personal  attachments  will  not 
spring  up  on  the  basis  of  chance  acquaintance. 

These  years  have  been  called  the  period  of 
storm  and  stress.  For  interests  are  personal.  It 
is  not  merely  the  imagination  and  reason  that  are 
active.  Personal  attitudes  are  assured.  Hostility 
to  religion  is  usually  hostility  to  a  person  or  per- 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  171 

sons  who  are  falsely  religious  or  personally  repel- 
lent; abnormally  extreme  religion  is  usually  ardent 
devotion  to  a  person  or  persons  who  are  religious 
fanatics. 

A  tragic  situation  develops  when  the  social 
group  to  which  a  boy  or  girl  naturally  belongs  is 
indifferent  to  religion  or  perhaps  positively  anti- 
religious  and  when  the  religious  group  in  which 
membership  seems  to  be  inevitable  is  socially 
crude  or  unattractive.  To  fight  these  battles  alone 
may  lead  to  permanent  discouragement  or  bitter- 
ness of  soul.  Somewhere  within  the  entire  range 
of  these  vigorous  and  at  times  contradictory 
thrusts  of  personality,  help  this  youth  to  maintain 
an  abiding  core  of  friendship  ideals  and  loyalties 
around  which  wholesome  sentiments  and  visions 
can  be  built  up. 

VII.  THE  LAW  OF  CULTURE  AND  RESTRAINT 

Social  and  educational  interests  and  engage- 
ments are  apt  to  become  so  numerous  and  intense 
that  they  interfere  with  the  culture  of  personal 
religion.  In  many  communities,  social  engage- 
ments and  the  study  or  work  program  practically 
monopolize  the  entire  time  and  strength  that 
should  be  given  to  Bible  study,  prayer-meetings, 
church  school  and  other  means  of  religious  devel- 
opment. 


172          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

The  building  of  Christian  character  now  in- 
volves the  maintenance  of  a  proper  balance  of 
culture  and  restraint.  First  things  should  come 
first.  There  is  no  inherent  antagonism  between 
social  and  religious  interests.  But  they  have  to 
be  adjusted  to  each  other.  Some  good  things  have 
to  be  given  up  in  the  interest  of  the  highest  good. 
The  culture  of  religion  should  not  be  ignored  ex- 
cept at  those  times  when  one  is  in  a  state  of  mental 
or  physical  fatigue.  It  takes  time  to  cultivate  the 
things  of  the  spirit. 

The  lack  of  co-operation  among  the  church,  the 
home  and  the  public  school  together  with  the  ab- 
normal emphasis  placed,  in  some  communities, 
upon  matters  of  relatively  inferior  value,  leave 
multitudes  of  middle  adolescent  boys  and  girls 
confused.  They  are  caught  up  in  a  pandemonium 
of  exciting  interests  and  activities  and  do  not  have 
the  power  to  select  only  those  that  are  worthy, 
rejecting  the  others.  It  is  hard  to  build  a  simple, 
moral  structure  in  the  midst  of  such  highly  varied 
and  strongly  competing  influences. 

VIII.  THE  LAW  OF  VOCATIONAL  SPECIALIZATION 

In  the  midst  of  a  multitude  of  highly  varied  and 
competing  interests,  one  steadying  influence  is 
felt.  It  is  the  tendency  to  focalize  one's  attention 
upon  the  choice  of  a  life  work.  With  reference  to 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  173 

it,  interests  come  to  have  relative  values.  The 
marks  of  individuality  and  of  temperament  are 
now  realized  to  such  an  extent  as  to  greatly  in- 
crease a  youth's  knowledge  of  himself  and  of  what 
will  be  of  lasting  service  to  him.  High  schools  are 
beginning  to  render  a  most  valuable  service  in 
providing  pre-vocational  guidance  and  informa- 
tion. If  a  middle  adolescent  boy  has  decided  what 
he  wants  to  do  in  life,  he  will  find  the  problems  of 
culture  and  restraint  greatly  simplified.  No  longer 
will  all  things  inherently  interesting  be  of  equal 
interest  to  him. 

This  final  selection  of  a  vocation  should  not  take 
place  before  one  has  had  some  familiarity  with  a 
relatively  large  number  of  possible  choices.  The 
choice  should  be  made  while  the  personality  is 
sufficiently  plastic  to  make  possible  the  most  com- 
plete adaptation  and  abiding  enthusiasm.  But  it 
should  not  be  made  before  the  truly  integrated 
self  has  been  realized  and  before  a  sufficiently  wide 
familiarity  with  several  vocations  have  made  it 
possible  for  the  final  decision  to  be  an  intelligent 
one. 

IX.  THE  LAW  OF  APPRENTICESHIP  IN  LEADERSHIP 

The  one  who  is  understood  and  appreciated  by 
the  individuals  who,  with  himself,  constitute  the 
members  of  a  social  organization,  is  surrounded 


174          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

with  opportunities  to  realize  whatever  leadership 
talents  he  may  possess.  The  resulting  apprentice- 
ship in  leadership  should  not  be  too  closely  super- 
vised and  should  never  be  interfered  with  by  in- 
judicious adults.  Skill  comes  through  practice 
under  tactful  guidance  and  in  the  midst  of  others 
of  approximately  the  same  age.  As  long  as  these 
young  people  feel  that  their  organization  is  not 
their  own,  that  their  mistakes  will  come  under  the 
scrutiny  of  older  folks,  and  that  only  experienced 
workers  should  hold  office,  so  long  will  the  supply 
,  of  future  leaders  for  the  church  fail  to  be  discovered 
and  trained.  In  each  local  church,  there  might 
well  be  one  person  whose  specific  duty  would  be  to 
acquaint  certain  people  with  the  fact  that  their 
continued  membership  in  the  young  people's  or- 
ganization, whether  it  is  Epworth  League,  Chris- 
tian Endeavor,  Baptist  Young  People's  Union,  or 
similar  society,  means  positive  harm  to  the  young 
people,  for  it  interferes  with  their  having  practice 
in  leadership. 

X.  THE  LAW  OF  THE  SUSTAINED  SPIRITUAL  LIFE 

,  » 

Adequate  provision  should  be  made  for  keeping 
alive  the  spiritual  life  re-affirmed  or  inaugurated 
during  these  years.  The  chief  sources  of  a  sus- 
tained spirituality  are  now  private  prayer,  com- 
mon worship,  Bible  study,  social  service  that  is 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  175 

supported  by  a  religious  motive,  and  unbroken 
fellowship  with  religiously-minded  friends.  These 
sources  of  a  sustained  faith  in  God,  belief  in  His 
Holy  Word,  confidence  in  organized  Christianity 
and  fellowship  in  service  must  be  kept  open  at 
any  cost.  Prayer  is  now  both  instinctive  and  in- 
dispensable. It  meets  a  definite  need.  The  im- 
pulse to  prayer  grows  out  of  the  social  sensitive- 
ness that  appreciates  confidences  and  fellowship. 
"Prayer  is  the  supreme  opportunity  of  friendship 
with  God  kept  vital  by  regular,  deliberate  com- 
munion with  Him."  In  common  worship  the 
powerful  influence  of  social  suggestion  is  felt.  In 
both  private  and  public  worship,  a  purified  self- 
consciousness  and  an  exalted  God-consciousness 
are  realized. 

Middle  adolescent  young  people  are  naturally 
hungry  for  spiritual  food.  They  are  restive  in  the 
presence  of  mere  formality  or  hollow  ritual.  Sin- 
cerity is  now  an  instinctive  demand.  Hypocrisy 
is  looked  upon  with  horror.  The  teacher  of  relig- 
ion dare  not  be  merely  perfunctory.  An  artificial 
motive,  false  pretense,  or  careless  inconsistency 
will  be  easily  detected.  Inaccuracies  in  fact-in- 
formation also  should  be  zealously  avoided.  Sen- 
timents that  surround  religious  essentials  are  apt 
to  spread  to  other  less  important  things  closely 
related  to  them.  All  of  the  institutions  of  religion 


176          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

become  richly  meaningful.  They  should  be  ad- 
ministered only  by  those  having  clean  hands  and 
pure  hearts,  free  from  vanity  and  deceit,  having 
a  luxuriant  faith  and  fervent  devotion. 

The  moral  and  religious  inspiration  that  comes 
through  Bible  study  comes  in  part  from  the  reali- 
zation that  it  contains  the  record  of  the  lives  of 
real  flesh-and-blood  men  and  women.  The  inter- 
pretations of  this  sacred  record  are  greatly  in- 
fluenced, consciously  or  unconsciously,  by  the 
known  attitudes  of  others  toward  the  Bible.  With 
the  help  of  a  suitable  spiritual  sponsor,  however, 
the  deeper  personal  realization  of  what  it  means 
to  be  a  disciple  of  Christ  comes  directly  from  a 
study  of  the  Bible,  balanced  with  a  program  of 
Christian  service. 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP  STUDY 

1.  What  are  the  ten  laws  governing  the  religious 
education  of  middle  adolescent  boys  and  girls? 

2.  Why  is  it  necessary  to  find  the  true  center  of 
one's  personality  during  these  years? 

3.  What  is  the  danger  of  having  conflicting 
loyalties? 

4.  Describe  middle  adolescent  conversion. 

5.  How  are  the  Bible,  prayer  and  the  church 
re-discovered  during  this  period? 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  177 

6.  What  forms  of  expression  should  religion  take 
at  this  time? 

7.  How  would  you  describe  the  social  interests 
of  this  period? 

8.  What  dangers  arise  from  too  many  intense, 
personal  interests? 

9.  How  does  vocational  training  help  to  meet 
these  difficulties? 

10.  Why  is  practice  in  leadership  now  impor- 
tant? 

11.  How  is  the  spiritual  life  sustained  during 
middle  adolescence? 


CHAPTER  XI 

PRINCIPLES  OF  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 
FOR  LATER  ADOLESCENTS 

I.  THE  LAW  OF  A  COMPLETED  ADOLESCENCE 

Because  of  poverty,  death  of  parents,  misfor- 
tune or  calamity,  the  majority  of  adolescent  young 
people  take  up  the  responsibilities  of  adulthood 
before  it  is  time.  This  final  period  of  development 
is  either  short-circuited  altogether  or  is  passed 
through  too  rapidly  to  make  possible  the  complete 
realization  of  one's  natural  power.  Many  young 
men  at  nineteen  have  experiences  that  should  be 
postponed  until  they  are  thirty.  With  only  a 
limited  portion  of  their  inherited  capacities  real- 
ized, they  face  the  heavy  burdens  of  caring  for 
their  own  or  their  father's  family,  making  a  living, 
or  competing  for  advancement  in  their  chosen 
trade  or  profession. 

To  assume  such  responsibilities  prematurely 
usually  results  in  premature  senility.  Many  per- 
sons, for  forty  years,  carry  a  burden  of  regret  for 
mistakes  made  during  later  adolescence,  mistakes 
which  have  resulted  in  unhappy  marriage,  lack  of 
college  education,  failure  to  develop  priceless 
178 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  179 

talents,  or  inadequate  foundation  for  advance- 
ment in  the  field  chosen  as  one's  life  work. 

One  of  the  common  tragedies  of  life  is  to  see 
adults  striving  against  heavy  odds  to  make  up  for 
the  deficiencies  of  an  incompleted  adolescence. 
The*  best  way  to  prepare  for  a  normal  maturity 
and  old  age  is  to  enjoy  to  the  full  the  possible  un- 
folding of  life  that  takes  place  naturally  during 
the  years  eighteen  to  twenty-four.  Help  these 
young  people  to  take  time  to  mature  slowly.  Save 
them  from  the  temptation  to  rush  hurriedly  into 
the  responsibilities  of  adulthood.  The  value  of  a 
good  education,  of  an  avocation  as  well  as  of  a 
vocation,  of  wide  social  experience  and  familiarity 
with  more  than  one  possible  vocation  should  be 
pointed  out.  Broaden  by  retarding. 

II.  THE  LAW  OF  DIFFERENTIATION 

During  these  years,  young  people  tend  to  be- 
come identified  with  different  social,  educational 
and  industrial  groups.  Selection  and  concentra- 
tion cause  lives  to  diverge.  To  undertake  to  put 
together  in  the  same  class,  college  students  and 
young  men  who  had  to  go  to  work  before  they  had 
finished  high  school,  or  girls  who  are  just  home 
from  college  with  factory  girls,  is  to  attempt  what 
is  pedagogically  impossible.  The  religious,  rec- 
reation and  social  needs  have  now  become  more 


180          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

distinct  and  highly  specialized.  There  are  such 
marked  differences  in  capacities,  interests,  habits, 
desires,  ambitions,  impulses,  satisfiers,  that  the 
work  of  the  educator  cannot  be  done  on  a  whole- 
sale basis.  Precocity  arid  backwardness,  as  well  as 
other  causes  of  individual  differences  must  be 
taken  into  account. 

Courses  of  lessons,  methods  of  teaching  and 
types  of  activities  must  now  be  carefully  deter- 
mined with  reference  to  the  particular  needs  of 
the  various  types  and  groups  of  young  people  for 
which  they  are  intended.  The  recognition  of  these 
differences  should  not  be  made  in  such  a  way  as 
to  encourage  snobbishness  or  other  false  social 
sentiments,  but  solely  for  the  purpose  of  preserv- 
ing symmetry,  balance  and  wholeness  of  life,  and 
otherwise  to  stimulate  normal  development. 
Recognize  the  special  needs  of  the  different  types 
of  later  adolescent  young  people. 

III.  THE  LAW  OF  WORTHY  MOTIVES  IN  LIFE'S 
GREAT  DECISIONS 

These  young  people  should  start  out  in  life  with 
a  motive  large  and  strong  and  pure  enough  to  lead 
them  with  moral  safety  and  victory  through  all 
the  struggles  of  adulthood.  To  begin  adult  life 
with  low  ideals  or  unworthy  motives  is  to  endanger 
both  moral  character  and  vocational  success.  The 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  181 

purpose  one  has  in  view  in  taking  up  one's  life- 
work  will  determine  largely  whether  or  not  that 
work  will  become  a  means  of  grace  or  a  spiritual 
liability.  If  Emerson  had  had  no  other  ambition 
than  that  of  becoming  an  auctioneer,  or  if  Lincoln 
had  had  no  ideal  for  his  life  beyond  that  of  be- 
coming a  country  lawyer,  or  if  Paul  had  remained 
a  merely  typical  Pharisee,  whole  areas  of  person- 
ality would  have  remained  unrealized.  When  sor- 
did self-seeking  takes  the  place  of  whole-hearted 
desire  to  be  of  the  greatest  possible  service,  the 
individual  sooner  or  later  becomes  a  moral  burden 
upon  society — a  parasite  rather  than  a  contribu- 
tor. One  of  the  most  vital  methods  of  governing"] 
later  adolescents  and  adults  is  to  inspire  them 
with  the  purest  motives  and  most  exalted  ideals 
in  choosing  that  form  of  service  which  will  be  their 
life  work.  Their  choices  should  be  worthy  of  theirji 
best  selves. 

In  the  natural  order  of  unfolding,  love  between 
the  sexes  is  spontaneous  and  sensitive.  Romantic 
sentiments  easily  burst  out  into  passionate  affec- 
tion. The  danger  is  that,  in  the  midst  of  this 
wealth  of  emotion,  moral  and  prudential  standards 
may  be  lost  sight  of.  To  turn  one's  back  upon  one's 
religious  motives  and  moral  ideals  in  this  hour  is 
fatal.  Make  sure  that  religious  motives  and 


182          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

moral  idealism  are  not  compromised  in  the  selec- 
tion of  a  vocation  or  the  establishment  of  a  home. 

IV.  THE  LAW  OF  A  CHANGED  ENVIRONMENT 

Later  adolescence,  for  many,  is  a  time  when  old 
ties  are  broken.  Suddenly,  one  finds  oneself  lo-' 
cated  in  a  distant  city  or  other  new  environment, 
among  strangers.  The  old  familiar  faces  and  ob- 
jects which  were  the  moral  supports  of  childhood 
are  no  longer  present.  It  seems  as  though  a  part 
of  one's  self  had  been  taken  away,  for  home  and 
youthful  friends  come  to  be  spiritual  accessories 
of  personality.  The  old,  comfortable  self-con- 
sciousness has  not  been  carried  into  the  new  sur- 
roundings. There  is  a  new  and  strange  sense  of 
freedom  and  independence. 

The  possession  of  surplus  money,  after  board 
bills  and  room  rent  have  been  paid,  becomes  an 
intoxicant.  For  the  first  time,  there  is  no  longer 
the  felt  obligation  to  give  an  account  to  anybody. 
This  sense  of  freedom  may  easily  lead  to  moral 
recklessness.  The  ethical  standards  of  fellow- 
workmen,  boarders,  lodgers,  students,  are  easily 
substituted  for  those  formerly  held.  The  ethics  of 
one's  trade  may  present  a  very  serious  practical 
problem. 

This  is  a  critical  time  in  the  moral  development 
of  the  individual.  Diligently  guard  such  young 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  183 

people  from  temptations  arising  out  of  a  changed 
environment.  Place  them  in  wholesome,  uplifting 
surroundings.  They  need  the  support  of  new 
friends  of  the  old  sort.  Show  special  diligence  in 
searching  out,  encouraging  or  otherwise  helping 
those  who  have  recently  moved  beyond  the  imme- 
diate reach  of  those  moral  supports  with  which, 
as  children,  they  were  familiar. 

V.  THE  LAW  OF  INSTITUTIONAL  LOYALTY 

This  is  the  period  to  which  political  parties, 
fraternal  organizations,  various  clubs,  societies 
and  orders  make  their  appeal  for  new  recruits. 
The  objects  for  which  these  organizations  stand, 
their  numerical  strength  and  impressive  ritual  or 
appointments  make  a  powerful  appeal  to  the  later 
adolescent  mind.  Ambition  to  be  associated  with 
people  of  influence,  interest  in  the  serious  aspects 
of  the  social  order,  ambition  to  have  a  part  in  real 
economic,  civic,  social  or  professional  affairs,  and 
unfamiliarity  with  the  actual  cost  in  time  and 
money  of  holding  active  membership  in  several 
such  organizations  often  result  in  these  young 
people  becoming  hopelessly  involved.  They  are 
unable  to  make  their  best  contributions  to  those 
institutions  which  count  for  the  most  in  advancing 
the  Kingdom  of  God. 

One  important  question  now  to  be  decided  is: 


184          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

Which  institutions  should  receive  deepest  loyalty? 
If  all  cannot  be  supported,  which  ones  are  most 
worthy?  Some  invitations  will  have  to  be  de- 
clined. Give  these  young  people  a  principle  in  the 
light  of  which  their  obligations  of  membership  in 
organizations  can  be  rightly  determined.  Help 
them  to  ally  themselves  with  those  institutions 
which  are  making  the  greatest  contributions  to  the 
establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  among  men. 

VI.  THE  LAW  OF  LEADERSHIP 

Adult  supervision,  which  is  so  greatly  needed  in 
the  direction  of  early  adolescent  group  activities 
and  hardly  less  needed,  though  its  presence  should 
be  less  in  evidence,  during  middle  adolescence,  can 
now  be  practically  withdrawn.  By  the  time  boys 
and  girls  have  reached  later  adolescence,  they 
should  have  learned  through  experience  the  weak- 
nesses of  autocratic  and  oligarchical  methods  of 
leadership.  They  should  now  be  having  actual 
leadership  experience  under  a  democratic  form  of 
group  government. 

This  advanced  training  in  leadership  will  involve 
practice  in  public  speaking  and  debating,  famil- 
iarity with  the  laws  of  deliberative  assemblies, 
intelligent  appreciation  of  civic  and  economic 
affairs,  experience  in  carrying  projects  through 
with  financial  and  prudential  success,  the  laying 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  185 

of  plans  requiring  the  activities  of  an  organization 
for  an  entire  season  or  year,  intelligent  co-opera- 
tion between  the  sexes,  the  accurate  keeping  of 
records,  permanency  and  practical  usefulness  of 
organized  activities,  good  judgment  in  selecting 
and  deputizing  individuals  to  perform  specific 
tasks,  methods  of  effective  supervision. 

Such  training  requires  that  serious  and  practical 
enterprises  be  undertaken,  and  that  adjustments 
be  made  within  the  young  people's  permanent 
organization  in  order  that  such  undertakings  may 
be  successfully  completed.  Therefore,  discover, 
further  develop,  and  make  serious  use  of  any 
capacities  for  leadership  that  exist.  Carefully 
guard  against  those  false  methods  of  leadership 
that  are  not  based  upon  ability  to  perform  truly 
great  service. 

It  is  also  highly  important  that  those  who  do 
not  possess  the  capacities  for  leadership  make  that 
discovery  during  adolescence.  The  majority  of 
adults  will  perform  their  highest  service  by  carry- 
ing out,  in  a  faithful  and  thoroughgoing  way,  the 
plans  which  others  have  originated,  or  in  working 
at  tasks  which  others  have  assigned  to  them. 

VII.  THE  LAW  OF  HEROIC  SERVICE 

The  work  of  the  ordinary  wide-awake  local 
church  is  determined  largely  by  the  character  of 


186          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

the  community  in  which  it  is  located.  But  in  all 
churches  the  following  types  of  lay  service  are 
needed?  Organization  and  management  of  the 
church  school,  teaching  in  the  various  departments 
of  the  church  school,  directing  the  musical  min- 
istry of  the  church,  recreational  leadership,  vari- 
ous kinds  of  social,  civic,  benevolent,  missionary 
and  community  service,  care  of  church  property, 
directing  inter-church  activities,  lay  preaching  and 
evangelistic  work  of  various  kinds. 

The  commission  for  heroic  service  was  a  part  of 
our  Lord's  training  of  the  twelve  apostles.  A  sim- 
ilar commission  is  needed  to  complete  the  program 
of  religious  education  for  later  adolescents.  Much 
of  the  earlier  training  fails  to  be  conserved  because 
It  is  not  made  serious  use  of.  A  faith  that  fails  to 
find  expression  in  works  is  abortive,  incomplete, 
and  in  danger  of  being  lost.  A  great  faith  and 
devotion  must  have  a  correspondingly  large  op- 
portunity of  service. 

The  altruism  of  later  adolescence  is  increasingly 
practical.  The  program  of  the  local  church  should 
be  worthy  of  the  final  invoices  of  spiritual  energy 
which  later  adolescents  receive.  The  standards  of 
service  should  not  be  lowered  during  that  period 
of  life  when  spontaneous  interest  in  athletic  rec- 
ords, social  advancement  and  economic  success  is 
at  its  height.  The  work  of  the  local  church  should 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  187 

be  so  organized  as  to  make  use  of  the  large  capacities 
for  service  which  characterize  later  adolescence. 

VIII.  THE  LAW  OF  SPECIALIZED  TRAINING 

To  be  an  unskilled  laborer  in  our  Lord's  vine- 
yard or  to  bury  any  talents  in  a  napkin  and  to 
fail  to  use  them  is  to  merit  divine  condemnation. 
Special  aptitudes  and  desires  must  be  discovered. 
The  principle  of  economy  as  well  as  efficiency 
demands  specialized  forms  of  training  as  well  as 
specialized  opportunities  for  service.  Respect  in- 
dividuality both  in  service  and  in  preparation  for 
service. 

This  law  implies  the  recruiting  of  ministers* 
missionaries  and  professional  social  workers  as 
well  as  of  trained  lay  workers.  Since  the  local 
church  cannot  provide  all  the  specialized  forms  of 
training  needed  in  the  preparation  of  effective  lay 
and  professional  workers,  co-operation  among  the 
churches  of  a  community  or  district,  with  this  end 
in  view,  becomes  not  only  a  practical  necessity 
but  a  moral  obligation.  The  curriculum  of  a 
church  school  that  does  not  provide  for  graded 
forms  of  expressional  activity,  as  well  as  of  in- 
struction, is  incomplete.  This  program  of  expres- 
sional activity  comes  to  its  full  flower  only  when 
all  the  service  resources  of  all  the  young  people 
have  been  laid  hold  of. 


188          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

IX.  THE  LAW  OF  RATIONAL  SUPREMACY 

In  his  search  for  facts,  for  truth  that  can  be 
scientifically  or  philosophically  verified,  there  is 
danger  that  the  later  adolescent  may  develop  a 
cynical  attitude  toward  sentimental  and  aesthetic 
values.  This  period  is  sometimes  called  the  "age 
of  doubt"  or  of  disbelief,  because  of  the  extreme 
readiness  with  which  truths  that  cannot  be  scien- 
tifically or  philosophically  verified  are  cast  aside. 

But  this  is  not  the  chief  characteristic  of  this 
period.  The  positive  appreciation  of  any  religious, 
political,  scientific  or  social  truth  that  presents 
itself  with  rational  credentials  is  both  natural  and 
spontaneous.  A  real  danger  is  encountered,  how- 
ever, when  it  is  discovered  that  former  teachers — 
taking  unfair  advantage  of  the  credulity  of  chil- 
dren and  early  adolescent  boys  and  girls — have 
caused  them  to  believe  that  which  is  now  dis- 
covered to  be  untrue.  In  casting  aside  a  trifling 
error,  some  young  people  are  apt  to  go  too  far  and 
to  get  rid  of  that  which  is  fundamental  but  as  yet 
unappreciated. 

New  and  radical  views  are  now  adopted  with 
greater  ease  than  is  possible  in  later  life.  To  see 
the  difference  between  essentials  and  non-essen- 
tials is  a  real  achievement.  Help  these  young 
people  to  be  judicious  and  fair  in  their  reasoning. 
The  extravagant  hopes  and  passionate  ideals  of 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  189 

earlier  years  may  now  appear  to  have  carried  them 
too  far  but  in  this  time  of  disillusionment,  see  to  it 
that  their  critical  attitude  does  not  lead  to  a  reac- 
tion that  is  extreme  and  permanently  harmful. 
Under  guidance,  help  them  to  submit  their  religion 
to  a  frank,  thoroughgoing,  rational  test.  But 
emphasize  positive  values  and  constructive  criti- 
cisms. 

X.  THE  LAW  OF  A  RELIGIOUS  CREED 

Some  life  philosophy  or  personal  point  of  view 
is  sure  to  be  evolved  and  formulated  during  this 
period.  The  later  adolescent  is  naturally  a  creed 
maker.  His  beliefs  tend  to  become  definite  in 
form.  He  delights  in  argument  and  debate.  Ac- 
curacy of  statement  is  a  vital  part  of  his  reasoning 
process.  Creedal  beliefs — such  as  the  Apostles 
Creed — now  become  either  necessary  and  ration- 
ally satisfying  or  the  source  of  intellectual  irrita- 
tion. There  must  be  a  definite,  simple  core  to  his 
religious  beliefs  and  around  it  the  whole  is  grad- 
ually organized  into  a  system. 

Beliefs  that  are  not  thus  crystallized  and  ar- 
ranged in  order  are  apt  to  become  vague  and  in- 
effective. They  are  easily  lost.  The  practical 
affairs  of  mature  responsibility  will  soon  crowd 
aside  this  creed-forming  interest.  Before  that  time 
comes,  his  mind  should  arrive  at  a  statement  of 


190          THE  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION 

beliefs'  which  is  true  to  the  Christian  revelation 
and  which  is  fundamentally  similar  to  that  which 
others,  who  are  sound  in  the  faith,  have  adopted. 
When  his  own  individual  creed  is  in  harmony  with 
the  common  creed  of  the  church,  efficient  co-opera- 
tion is  made  easier. 

In  all  progressive  denominations,  special* em- 
phasis is  being  placed  upon  social  service  and  all 
other  forms  of  expressional  activities.  There  is  a 
widespread  and  popular  appreciation  of  goodwill 
and  kind  deeds.  The  educational  pendulum  has 
swung  far  in  this  direction.  There  is  danger  that 
this  movement  will  have  the  practical  result  of 
ignoring  the  importance  of  having  our  young 
.  people  well-grounded  in  the  faith.  A  universal 
bond  of  commonly  accepted  beliefs  is  necessary  to 
the  unity  and  solidity  of  living  Christianity.  To 
think  together  is  important.  It  takes  something 
besides  a  general,  benevolent  attitude  to  make  a 
Christian.  There  is  a  historic  origin  and  develop- 
ment of  Christianity.  The  church  has  a  theology. 
Her  doctrines  are  not  matters  to  be  set  aside 
lightly.  Later  adolescents  face  the  responsibility 
of  being  able  to  give  a  reason  for  their  faith.  They 
should  not  be  blown  about  by  every  wind  of 
doctrine. 


OF  ADOLESCENTS  191 

QUESTIONS  FOR  INDIVIDUAL  AND  GROUP  STUDY 

1.  What  are  che  ten  laws  that  summarize  the 
program  of  religious  education  for  later  adolescent 
young  people? 

2.  Why  should  adolescent  development  be  com- 
pleted? 

3.  What  account  should  be  taken  of  the  differ- 
ent types  of  young  people  found  in  this  period? 

4.  In  what  spirit  should  life's  greatest  decisions 
be  made? 

5.  What   practical   problems    arise    out    of    a 
changed  environment? 

6.  What  kind  of  institutions  deserve  the  su- 
preme loyalty  and  active  memberships  of  later 
adolescents? 

7.  What  practical  problems. are  now  involved 
in  achieving  leadership? 

8.  What  types  of  lay  service  are  possible  in  the 
local  church? 

9.  Point  out  the  reasons  for  specialized  training 
for  service. 

10.  How  does  the  supremacy  of  the  rational 
faculties  affect  later  adolescent  religion? 

11.  Of  what  value  is  a  religious  creed? 


14  DAY  USE 

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Ill  III 

O  O  4£\I"^TP 

.HJN 

c  C  K7D/J 

JUL    6 

1967  1  0 

; 

SEP 

2  5  1967 

MAR  2 

1  2006 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


